Pharisäer Coffee Cocktail- Real German Cuisine Challenge

So, back on the horse. After skipping out on last week's challenge, I managed to raff my self together this week to conjure up the delicious north German coffee-cream-rum treat.

The story of this drink(recipe here) is cute, legend being that the North Sea Germans, fond of coffee but especially fond of rum, thought to mix the two and used whipped cream to hide the sin from the town priest. I, myself, think that whipped cream is sin enough, but apparently it pacified the preacher until he discovered what was hiding underneath all that froth. The townspeople were then denounced as debaucherers with the exclamation "you Pharisees". This is actually a very interesting if not a bitsy bit un-pc remark. See wiki's article: here

My drink was a non political version, and it was easy enough, except that whipping cream is quite a feat for me without a mixer. I managed to splatter it everywhere although I like to think that I burned off at least some of the calories.

I brewed up some delicious espresso in my lovely Italian Caffeteria bought from the market in Padova during my study abroad time there, mixed it up with sugar and then topped it with my hard earned whipped cream.

As an added beautifier, I used a small sieve to dust cocoa over the top. Deeeeelliiiccious. Artur thought so too!!

Root Soup - Wurzelsuppe - Real German Cuisine Challenge

Welcome to the fifth week of the Real German Cuisine Challenge! After Semmelknödel mit Pilzen, Rahmgulasch, Käsespätzle and Apfelstrudel, his week was an easy, straighforward (and nutritious!) soup from the Schleswig-Holstein region (far faaarrr north). Get the recipe here

The whole thing began by measuring out the ingredients. Thank goodness for my scale (and here's a glimpse of the ugly but taste German "Celery" which is actually celery root.

And everything sliced
This is me. With my leek. My big giant leek. That inspired me to play baseball. Maybe I'm homesick... but in the end, i'm a pittsburgh gal... we're steelers fans, after all.
Everything got tossed into the pot, and cuddled up with some sizzling butter for five minutes or so. Then in with the stock, on with the top, and I let it simmer away! I used those cubes of veggie broth... (gasp!) because I just don't have homemade stock. Does anyone have a good easy recipe that I can freeze?
Then the whole thing went into my beautiful Philips blender (a birthday present from Artur). The thing doesn't shoot the blending stuff into the air like most, instead it makes a lovely blending tornado. Look! And it has lovely blue lights, kind of like the blender version of a VW Golf.
The a nice glob of Cremè Freiche and some dill and... TADA! Easy monday dinner. I used frozen dill from the grocery store to garnish... a great alternative to always buying (or raising) your own!

BTW, I met Christina from Amiexpat and her lovely husband and adorable son last thursday (on her birthday, what an honor!) and it was lots of fun to chat with a fellow blogger! We talked about German TV and the school system...two favorite gripe topics of mine. Perhaps a future blog post in the making...

Next, I'll be telling you about my spring project for the apartment: a balcony veggie garden! (perhaps some fresh dill is in sights..)

Apple Strudel - Real German Cuisine Challenge -

Another entry in the Real German Cuisine Challenge being run by Christina from Amiexpat!

I was really scared of this one. Dough. Filling. Baking. Ayayay!

Get the recipe here: Apfelstrudel

But, it was alright. Messy, but not as messy as Käsespätzle.

I started by making the dough, which consisted of piling 250 grams of flour on a board, putting a cracked egg and some oil into the middle, and kneading. And kneading. Well, what I got was sticky hands and very crumbly dough. I'm starting to believe that this cookbook is from a time where chickens laid much larger eggs. Or 250 grams weighed less. Or gravity was different. Anyways, I had to add water to even make it "smooth" like it was supposed to be before adding the water, but after that addition it seemed to be a fairly happy dough.

are those wavy lines?

I painted it with olive oil (I didn't have any vegetable oil) and put it to "rise" under a "warmed" bowl (my warmed bowl was plastic run under hot water… and I am wondering how it was supposed to rise without any yeast. Maybe it was just supposed to rest..)

Then, the apple marathon began. 1.5 kilos of apples. That's 3.3 pounds of apples. That's a lot of peeling. A lot of coring. A lot of chopping. But I have to say, I am so very proud of my very best European kitchen skill: the ability to peel fruits and vegetables in my hand with a paring knife in one long glorious spiral of skin.

This pride and glory got me through the first kilo or so. Afterwards, it was pretty boring. But I made it. The apples got mixed with the spices and then lemon rind and juice, and then came the fun part… rolling out my "risen" (or rather just well rested) dough.

Without a rolling pin. I just don't have one. But my 1 liter thermos which I use regularly for my homemade teas worked just fine. I spread the dough with sour cream and heaped the apple mixture and the plumped raisins on top of it. Oh so many apples and raisins. Then I brought the edges together (a bit of water helped them stick) and, as the directions indicated, "BOLDLY" flipped my strudel.

Then I read the next step "place in a U form into the pan). Hmmmmm. I think my kitchen counters would have to be longer to make a strudel that would by able to form a U. Mine was more like a… like an I! Or a #1! (or an elongated blob...)

Anyways, after brushing it with butter and pouring milk overtop, into the over it went. For an hour. Getting a quick breather with periodic bastings. I also made the Vanilla sauce. But I skipped the beaten egg white step. No mixer, no egg whites (too much work for me…). The sauce tasted delicious but was very liquidy.

All in all a HUGE success. I brought what Artur and I didn't eat for dinner (that's right, apflestrudel for dinner)… to work, where it was promptly gobbled up and I was serenaded with stories of various regional versions of apple strudel from my German colleagues.

All I have left to say is "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…"

Real German Cuisine Challenge—Käsespätzle (or: the attack of the killer slugs)

I want to say right off the bat: this recipe was really funny. Hilarious. And it made a giant mess. Get this hilarious messy recipe made as part of the Real German Cuisine Challenge here.

I didn't have a spätzle press, so after mixing up the dough, browning the onions and boiling the water, I had quite a time of "spätzlehobeln" as I clumsily tried to use my knife to scrape delicate portions of the dough into the water.

What I got, instead, were giant spätzle blobs. They kind of looked like big slugs. Not very appetizing. I thought it was rather hilarious, though.

I also had problems with the dough. The amount of water called for didn't even absorb the flour, so I had to keep adding until it had any reasonable consistency. Then, it was very sticky. I basically developed the technique of running my knife under water after every third spätzle to keep them from sticking.

I got better though, and as the layers formed in the pan, they started looking more and more like the spätzle I know. Last but not least I topped everything with the onions and extra cheese, and the final creation was yummy. But the smaller noodles were definitely better.

Lessons learned:
GET A SPÄTZLE PRESS!
Onions browned in butter taste DELICIOUS and i'm sure they would spruce up any dish
Giant Spätzle slugs are also yummy... a bit tough, with a "robust" quality
This dish can be reheated. Reheated. And reheated. And gets better every time.
German food is hard. Schwabian women are amazing.

I'm kind of scared for Apfel Strudel. But a wise woman once sang: cream colored posies and crisp apple strudel...when the dog bites, when the bee stings... i simply remember my favorite things. And then I don't feel soooooo baaaaaaaaaaaddddddddd! (sorry. gotta love sound of music. why else do you think i moved here? found out too late that it's austria...)

PS: I really enjoyed reading my fellow challenger's recipes! Thanks especially to Christine and Yelli!

Real German Cuisine Challenge: Kalbsrahmgulasch

Ingredients (read about ziplocked cream further on..)

This is my second cooking session as a participant in Amiexpat's Real Germany Cuisine Challenge

This week, we made "Kalbsrahmgulasch" or Creamy Veal Gulasch. Mmmmm. The recipe can be found HERE

I started out by chopping everything and clariying the butter (heating it and skimming off the "white stuff". I used a handy trick I read somewhere on the internet and used kitchen scissors to chop my tomatoes. Then, I used the scissors to cut up my veal.

chopped onions and tomatoes

I browned the veal in the clarified butter, added the chopped onions and sprinkled with paprika, and then, finally, topped everything with chicken broth. I used chicken broth instead of the recommended beef broth because a) i am not one of those people who makes their own broth so b) the only one without MSG at the store was the organic instant chicken broth.

Then, everything got to hang out and simmer for a while. When I say a while, i mean an ETERNITY!! Ok, so i am not one of those people who is very patient. I like food that involves a lot of activity and not a lot of waiting. And I didn't start cooking until 8pm. So... instead of letting it all simmer happily for the recommended 45 minutes, i only waited 30...

sizzle sizzle

And then added the cream, salt and pepper. Now I had a little adventure with my cream on the way home when it burst in my shopping bag (which i noticed as I was waiting for the ubahn as a white puddle started to form..) but i managed to rescue the dinky german plastic container with a foil lid by slipping into one of my newly purchased ziplops. That's right, call me Ms. Resourceful.

Anyways, I had just enough cream left and, to me, the whole thing looked a little TOO creamy. So I added some tomato paste and some Sriracha sauce. Then I let it cook away, finishing it off with some Crème fraîche (which, indeed, is very cheap in Germany) and lemon zest (i couldn't resist licking the Crème fraîche spoon..yum yum).

In the meantime, I made rice in my rice cooker (basmati, cause that's what i had..) and heated up yesterday's baguette in the toaster oven. Here's the finished product.

DELICIOUS! The only thing I would change would be...my patience. I think the meat really could have used those extra 15 minutes. Next time...

It DID taste like an Indian dish! But in a really cool fusion German way. Yummy yummy.

the final product

By the way, Christina, thanks so much for starting that. I am having SO much fun(and my boyfriend is too!!!) ! I look forward to every week and can't wait for Kässpatzen!!

After a while, I'll have Artur do a guest blog post and rate my German cooking skills :)

up up and away!

Real German Cuisine Challenge: Semmelknödel mit Pilzen

Me and my first Knödel

I am tagging along with American Expat and other expat Germany bloggers in working our way through the cookbook "Die Echte Deutsche Küche" for the Real German Cuisine Challenge.

Our first week's attempt is Semmelknödel mit Pilzen (link to recipe here), which is known, in Bayern, as Rahmschwammerl. Delicious, plus, I had never made my own Knödel before, and if my destiny is anywhere near becoming a German Housewife (he he) then I'd better master this one.

The ingredients

I started by cutting everything: chopping mushrooms, whizzing onions and parsely through the food processor, then soaked the bread in the warm milk.


Then, I cooked everything for the dumplings and had a blast forming them into lovely bready spheres (kind of like making a snowball. I had to fight an urge or two to throw one across the room) and plopped them into the boiling salt water (but not before making a cute little "test dumpling" to make sure they didn't fall apart).
The sauce cooked up quite nicely and I (unlike Amiexpat) did use Shitake Mushrooms, along with Austerpilzen and rehydrated dried mushrooms Artur and I got as a gift from his relatives in Poland (hand gathered, of course). It cooked up nicely and had lots of flavour, and the lemon juice was a lovely touch. I didn't need anything to thicken it—I just let it cook off for a while.

Overall rating: delicious, fairly easy, and very authentic. This will go on my list of German meals to make for my family when I go home. I can't wait for next week's Rahmgulasch (Creamy veal goulash).