Froliche Weinachten - German Recipes!

Okay, I'll try to minimize my usual "Blah-Blah-Blah" stuff for this post!

Let's just say that I've got a deep-down association with German Food = Christmas

And since, this year, due to travel/work schedules and catching (and *sharing*) a friggin' "Where's the #$%^ Kleenex?!" head-cold, we did NOT make our annual pilgrimage to Teske's Germania and Christmas-In-The-Park...

So this year's Christmas Feast was Deutsch!

Some recipes I had posted before... Others, not... But I figure I'll just recap 'em here with minimal commentary!

First Course: Austrian Gulaschsuppe (Goulash Soup). Evidently the Bavarians have absconded with this recipe, originally from Hungary, and put their own "spin" on it. DH discovered it while he was on a business trip in Munich and he raved about it. So I Googled it, found several recipes and smushed 'em together and ended up with this:

Austrian Gulaschsuppe (Goulash Soup)

This is (mostly) how the pictures looked when I found other recipes on the internet.

The soup that Hubbie ate was all pureed and thick, so that's how I prepared mine (see pic at the bottom). I think, next time I make it, I'll skip the "turn-it-into-shlop" step!

Ingredients:

• 3 bacon strips, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small green pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2-3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2-2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons sweet hungarian paprika
• 2 tablespoons regular paprika
• salt & pepper to taste
• dash Splenda
• 1 can (14 1/2 ounce) stewed tomatoes, chopped
• 3 cups beef broth
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup sour cream, optional

Added:

• 1 more can of stewed tomatoes
• 2 parsnips (toward the end of cooking - maybe the last 2 hours?). Peeled and cut into small chunks.
• 1/4-1/2 cup of baby carrots (probably could have added them sooner)
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp marjoram
• 1 tsp caraway seeds in a bouquet garni (I wrapped 'em in a coffee filter, sealed with twine - and removed 'em after a couple of hours' worth of cooking),
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup white vinegar

Preparation:

In a large kettle, cook bacon until almost crisp. Add green pepper, onion and garlic; cook until tender.

Add beef cubes and brown on all sides. Sprinkle with paprika, salt, pepper and sugar; stir and cook for 2 minutes. Pour into crockpot. Add tomatoes and broth.

Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours. About 1 hour before serving, add the potatoes. Puree with an immersion blender (if you desire - I'll skip that, next time) Garnish each serving with a dollop of sour cream if desired.

This is definitely a "Stick-to-your-ribs" hearty/winter-time kinda soup!

Warm German Potato Salad / German Style Scalloped Potatoes

(Lazy Crock-pot method)

I adapted this from several different recipes I found on the 'net

Ingredients:

• 8-10 slices of thick-cut bacon.
• 1/2 chopped medium-sized fresh onion
• 2 pkgs dried scalloped potatoes (I used 1 pkg of Sour Cream and Chives flavored, and one pkg of "Au Gratin" style)
• 2 (+ 1/2) cups water (might wait to see if it needs more - it did!)
• 1 can cream of celery soup (condensed)
• 1 @ 5oz can evaporated milk
• 4 (+2) Tbs white vinegar
• 1 tsp yellow mustard (I just used plain ol' French's)
• 1/2 tsp celery seed
• 4 Tbs bacon grease
• 4 (+2) tsp Splenda (or sugar, or whatever)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 c heavy whipping cream
• 4 TBS Sour Cream

Preparation:

Fry up bacon and tamp grease out w/paper towels - reserve bacon grease. Chop onion and fry until light golden and limp (not crispy) - in the bacon grease. Dump the dried potato chunks into the crock pot, add the sauteed onions and bacon grease.

Mix the seasoning packet (that came w/the scalloped potatoes) w/2 cups water, dump that on top of the potatoes.

Add the can of crm of celery soup and evaporated milk. Add 4T vinegar, 4t Splenda, and mustard. Mix it in.

Crumble the bacon and add it in, along w/bacon grease and celery seed. Mix. Add salt/pepper to taste.

Cook in crock-pot on low for 4-5 hours.

After about the 3rd hour, I'd determined that it needed more liquid so - at that point - I stirred in 1/2c water + 1/2c heavy whipping cream. I'd tasted it again and decided it needed more vinegar (+ 2T) and sweetener (+2t Splenda). You might be okay with just adding these in at the beginning - but I am documenting as I do it!

Add Sour Cream during the last hour of cooking. Let it simmer for another hour, then serve warm.

Pumpernickel Bread (for Bread Machine)

Okay, this recipe surprised me - I'm not usually a huge fan of rye bread, but this was DAMN good!

I'm calling this one an adaptation from several different recipes...

Surprisingly Tasty Pumpernickel!

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cups water
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. oil
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 tsp. salt
• 1-1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 cup medium rye flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 Tbsp. wheat gluten
• 4 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp. caraway seeds
• 2-1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

Preparation:

Place all ingredients in the bread pan, in the order listed. Choose Whole Wheat Cycle with Medium Dark setting. Watch your bread machine to make sure it's not straining too much (or going to attempt suicide by "walking off" the counter!). This is a very dense loaf (but still rose surprisingly well). If it seems too dry, you might need to add more liquid during the knead cycle.

Makes 1-1/2 lb. loaf

Austrian Wienerschnitzel
(borrowed directly from germanfood.about.com)

And this particular dish doesn't photograph well during preparation (it's hella-messy!), so scroll to the bottom to see the final product!

Ingredients:

• 4 veal cutlets (traditional) pounded to 1/4 inch thickness (about 5 oz. each) (I got two pkgs of veal for scallopini - it was already the proper thickness, but the cutlets were a little small)
• 1/4 c. flour (all purpose or brown rice)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• Oil or lard for frying (lard is traditional) (I used Crisco - gasp!!!)

Preparation:

• To pound meat thin you may want to place the cutlet between sheets of plastic wrap for easier washing up. Use a heavy, flat-surface pan to pound if you don’t have a meat mallet. (My veal was already thin enough so I got to skip this step!)
• Pound the meat evenly to 1/4 inch thickness for best results.
• Do not press the bread crumbs into the meat. The crust should not adhere completely, but form a loose shell around the schnitzel.
• Make sure the breaded meat “swims” in fat. Contrary to instinct, the breading will take on less oil than if the meat is sticking to the pan. Also, the breadcrumb topping has a chance to puff up a little, and your clean up is easier!
• Set up 3 shallow dishes. Place the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in one and breadcrumbs in another. Beat eggs well and place in the third dish.

Heat at least 1/4 inch of oil in the pan to 350°F.

Working one at a time, dredge cutlets first in flour until the surface is completely dry. Dip in egg to coat, allow the excess to drip off for a few seconds and then roll quickly in the breadcrumbs until coated. Do not press breadcrumbs into the meat. Place meat immediately in the pan with the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Cook the schnitzel in batches, if necessary.

Fry the schnitzel for 3-4 minutes on one side. You may want to swish them around a little with your fork to make sure they are not sticking to the pan. Turn them over once and fry until both sides are golden brown. Remove from pan, allow the oil to drain off. Serve while hot and crispy - with lemon wedges on the side.

Schmeckt!!!

Rotkohl:

I think I mentioned that I attempted to cook this from scratch - ONCE. Made a helluva mess!

Cheater's Rotkohl

I totally cheated and bought a jar of Hainich Red Cabbage. Nuked it for appx 5-7 mins and served it warm. Just as good as home-made *without* needing the CSI folks to call the Forensic lab!

Apfelstrudel:

Again, I cheated. Bought a package of frozen Pepperidge Farm Apple Turnovers which I tossed in the nuker/convection oven for 25 mins.

All told: A VERY tasty dinner! Took the better part of a day to prepare (although most of it was Crock-Pot stuff). Nevertheless, 'twas mighty tasty!!!

Dinner!!!

Pardon the wonky "look" of this post. Blogger's not very user-friendly when it comes to inserting photos after-the-fact :::sigh:::