Apfelrotkraut - red cabbage with apples

Apfelrotkraut, or red cabbage with apple, is a great veggie dish to accompany my christmas goose.
These are some of the main ingredients: a nice red cabbage, one or two small apples, half an onion, a shallot, and a small wedge of celery root.


Cut up the vegetable, and add a bay leaf, three cloves, a couple of piment (allspice). Start by frying the onions lightly in some goose fat (coincidentally you might have some from that christmas goose you're making right now..) until they are softened but not browned, then add all the vegetable, salt, pepper, let it gain some heat, and then add a few table spoons of apple cider vinegar - I like that, because it adds to the fruitiness of the dish.
Let it simmer with closed lid until the cabbage is soft - it might take about 40 minutes to 1.5 hrs, depending on how much heat you're using. Which means you can optimize the timing to have perfect Rotkraut coincide with a perfect goose...

The cheap (and easy) way out

My Flammkuchen was not standing under a perfect Flammkuchen-star...
I don't have the special oven, did not have time to make the dough, and most likely a vegetarian coming over. So, no bacon. No bread dough. No really high heat.

[Here is a recipe for the real thing]

Note that Flammkuchen is not really german - it is from Alsace, i.e. a french region at the border to Switzerland & Germany.

Here's the cheap trick for the veggie-version:
I bought crescent dough - a little too sweet, true, but works; roll dough or pizza dough might be better but I wanted it a little flaky. Just because I felt like it.
Rolled it out on a sheet. Mixed sour cream with cream to add fat (for baking that's better, it crumbles otherwise, said my mom. And she knows these things..). Peppered and salted it. Sliced onion, boiled it shortly in water, then mixed it with walnuts and grape quarters.
The sour cream covers the dough, the onion-grape-nut mix is sprinkled over it, and all that is baked for about 15 minutes at about 375 deg F (or whatever your dough would like to be baked at).
It's a really nice, simple, quick version of vegetarian Flammkuchen!


Another veggie-pizza-like item is this here: I simmerd spinach with butter, mixed roasted sunflower seeds and dried tomatoes in, and ricotta. Salt and pepper, and cover the pizza dough of your preference with



Both are quick and easy, and, obviously, versatile. The spinach-ricotta mix is my favorite, the dried tomato gives it a real kick.

Good stuff. :)

Red earth

Red beets are a knockout if you're into earthiness - and red fingers after prepping them. Other people spend money on Henna, so, well..

But: they may sometimes be a little too much for some people, it's a matter of taste, as (nearly) everything.
Here is a recipe that lightens up the heavy flavors, adds acidity, gives the earth an airy lightness and an edge that leaves you wanting more.. (thanks mom!)

Fry the beets from all sides a bit in butter, salt them, put the lid on & let them simmer for 20-30 minutes - check on whether they are done. Then, add a spoon of honey, and some balsamic vinegar. Mix well together, and add vinegar til the taste is right. The beets drink the Balsamico up like nothing. Finally, add slices of orange - I used tangerines.
Delicious combination.

It goes really well with duck, ...as in sophisticated dinner vegetable.. as in christmas..

From goat cheese cheesecake to salty plums

It's been a while.. business kept me busy, and led me to a trip to Washington D.C., which resulted in me eating my way through the various amazing places there are in that city..

First, DC is a great place for seafood, especially compared to Nashville.. (go figure)I encountered a seafood place that is seriously worth mentioning - very pricy, but a real experience:
DC Coast, with a menu ranging from 'caramelized porcini gnocchi' to 'crab boudin', all very eclectic and creative, but in a very good way. I decided on a tuna dinner, starting with a Tuna tartare, à la ceviche, with lime, cilantro, red onion, and coconut milk, and lightly spicy, an extremely delicious combination that was served in half a coconut on ice. My entrée was 'seared yellowfin tuna', with strips of apple, and a sauce made from foie gras, and one from sweet onions. I'm not sure I tasted foie gras in there, and it therefore had a pretentious touch to it, but the sauces were very tasty and both supported and contrasted the tuna taste really well, very enjoyable dish. As a dessert I chose the 'Chevre cheese cake', made from goat cheese from a local farm, on a pecan cookie crust and sprinkled with caramelized pineapple and kiwi pieces... outstanding.. :)

In the days following this dinner, I mostly pursued my interest in chinese or generally asian food. Right at the entrance to china town, behind the big gate, is Tony Cheng's restaurant; on the first floor, mongolian cuisine, on the second floor, chinese and: Dim Sum. Living in Nashville, I am deprived of the better chinese food, as you will hear from all chinese living here.. one of the few praised exceptions is Golden Coast (on West End Ave) serving Dim Sum on the weekend - knowing that, I had to try the supposedly even more real deal in DC.
Check out Tony Cheng's Dim Sum menu for yourself - it sounds already really good, and is actually very affordable when you share with someone. My choices were a little limited to the carts that came by in the first 20 minutes of me being there - both me and my colleague really were hungry and could not wait for more offers.. so we had spare ribs in black bean sauce, some noodle dish with shrimp and peas in it, roasted duck, and fried sesame balls; I liked it very much, and every time I am astonished how much asian food I can eat and still not feel as stuffed as I feel with most other food styles.

Another chinese restaurant that was really worth going back to was close to Dupont Circle, City lights of China. The best one can do in my experience, is go to a chinese restaurant with chinese friends and colleagues, and let them order a whole bunch of food. With this approach, we ended up eating steamed bass, cantonese style, with ginger and scallions, steamed spinach, ma po tofu, and fried shrimps in their shells. This was a dinner for four, we only almost finished everything, and walked home very happy in the freezing cold night :)

Last on my asian dinner experiences is a little vietnamese place that might not look like much - but the vietnamese wife of my friend was there once, desperately wanted to go back and she sure was right. The place is Pho An in the White Oak shopping center in Silver Spring, at the end of the red metro line. We had garden rolls (with white rice, shrimp, spring onion, rolled into rice paper) for starters, dipped into a peanut sauce that we made spicy by adding pepper paste. Then we ate a big bowl of 'Pho', a noodle soup, in this case with beef slices, that are still red and cooking when it comes to the table, in a broth that has a very complex flavor, and apparently is based on secret recipes that no restaurant shares with anyone. To add into the soup, there is a big plate full with bean sprouts, limes, cilantro, jalapeno pepper slices, and leafy green vegetables that I did not recognize. Who cares, throw it all in, be happy, such a beautiful rich dish to eat at an icy cold winter night.

What was really interesting to me were the drinks - I tried 'salty plum', which appears to be water with salt and sugar and whole and fuzzy pieces of dried plum. Stir it all up, and it looks very ... strange (as you might be able to see on the right). It tastes very strange as well, slightly sour, a little sweet, for my normal taste way too salty, but somehow it is good and refreshing and I kept thinking about what this taste is about and why I cannot tell whether I really like or dislike it.. odd. But.. good. Somehow. :D

Aside from the asian adventures (I had more than the ones I mentioned here): at the First Cup Cafe, right at the convention center, you can sit down in a big armchair, grab one of the books off the window seals, or look at the photograph exhibition they have hanging up, and enjoy the best Avocado-Eggplant sandwich I have ever eaten or imagined.
I went back there and had it a second time. Amazing. Go get it!

Insalata germanica

As a follow-up to the Oktoberfest post, I would like to highlight a few more german dishes that were featured at the fest (as sides to the staple dishes), but never make it into the major news - that has to end.


Kartoffelsalat Bacon pieces and onions are fried to golden/crispiness. Add some plain vinegar, and, after this does some sizzling action, also beef stock, and maybe some fresh parsley - this whole happiness is poured over boiled and cooled down, sliced potatoes. Mix well and store cool for a couple of hours or over night.
The dressing will soak in to the potatoes and will add to the potato salad the appeal of fried potatoes with bacon - together this is a refreshing, hearty dish that can be a centerpiece to remember.
At the recent Oktoberfest, people were raving about this salad made by the hosts after their either bavarian and saxonian recipes- when I made it in the past, especially americans were really intrigued by it. Some, because it reminded them on what their german grandmother used to make, others simply because. Not surprising to me :-)


Bohnensalat mit Gurke salad from steamed green beans, with cucumber slices and white onions - very lightly acidic with plain vinegar. The beans typically need a little more salt than other salads, in my experience. Actually, I have never had this with cucumbers in it and found it to be a really nice summery take on the very common german green bean salad.


Gurkensalat Cucumbers are sliced thin and mixed with a dressing made from heavy cream, a pinch of salt, maybe a little white pepper, where I grew up also lots of dill, and white, plain vinegar. Be courageous with the vinegar, the acid helps the cucumber taste standing out and makes this not just a side dish, but elevates it to a standalone that is great, cool and fresh on a hot summer night.

This salad, as the above as well, improves immensely from sitting for a couple of hours - the vinegar gets to better extract all the goodies from the other ingredients, the dill distributes its aromas, and the cucumbers have more time to penetrate the cream with their flavor. It's so good..

Actually, with all these salads, acidity is a really important tool - the potato salad, for example, changes attitude entirely when you give it some sour edge, it gets so much more than just cold fried potatoes with some bacon on them..

Kraut-Pork-Brezen-Beer

Let's continue with the Oktoberfest menu before Oktober is over...
What should such a menu feature? Sauerkraut, pork, Brezeln, Beer should be the basics, and that's what we'll deal with here:

The Oktoberfest staples


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THE one major veggie item on the Oktoberfest menu has to be Sauerkraut!
Do I need to comment on this? Maybe a little - there are big differences in how much Sauerkraut one eats, and how it is prepared, across Germany. Actually, germans do not eat it a whole lot to begin with. A few times in the winter, and that's it. I've never seen Sauerkraut being eaten in spring or summer until I came to the US, and never ever on a sausage.

Making it involves frying bacon, and adding the Kraut, adding spices (cloves, juniper berries, bay leaves, pepper, salt), and, according to one's preference, mellowing agents to reduce the acidity of the Sauerkraut. This almost always is butter, and can be in addition pieces of apple. Some people throw uncountable numbers of butter sticks into the pot (after it is cooked well and almost ready, the butter should not be heated up too high), others just add a little spoonful, almost as a spice. This choice also instantly changes the way this dish behaves as either a side or center of the meal.

If you are into do-it yourself the whole way, here's a link to make Sauerkraut yourself. It is very healthy - I'm not sure if I would trust it for dealing with birdflu though as that site claims...


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Depending on which kind of meat is available, you can find Kloesse on your Oktoberfest menu, or Knoedel, dumplings made either from potatoes or bread. A real staple food of Oktoberfest, unthinkable of not being present, and also commonly served in beer gardens all over Germany, however, are Brezeln, or, in bavaria, "Brezen", specifically Laugenbrezeln.

These on the picture were actually made by me and found lots of old and new friends at the Oktoberfest. They are based on a recipe from a book ( "Das Kochbuch aus dem Saarland") I keep referring to a lot - here is how they are made:

make a yeast dough from 500 g flour, 40 g yeast (or 1 pack of dry yeast), 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/8 l milk, 2 eggs, a pinch of salt, 125 g butter (unsalted, please).
Let the dough rise and be happy, and then take little pieces, roll them into long finger-thick snakes and tie them into the Brezel-shape.
Let them sit again to rise a little and prepare the 'Lauge' that gives the Laugen-Brezel its name & special flavor: boil 1l water with 100g baking soda. When the water is clear, let it be simmering or just lightly boiling. Carefully slide the brezeln individually into the water (they sometimes like to unwind if you're not careful enough..), let them float in the water for about 30 seconds.
Take them out, put them on a baking sheet, let them cool down a little, brush with egg yolk (I mix it with a little water to make it easier to brush on), sprinkle coarse sea salt on, and bake at 220 deg C (425 deg F) about 10-20 minutes. Check back early to see how brown they look - when they look great, they taste great - eat them as fresh as possible, still warm they are really addictive.


***

I failed. Miserably. There was Bratwurst, and I did not even try it!
Yes, shame on me. But, honestly, I wasn't in the mood. The Nashville-Oktoberfest Bratwurst got many good reviews, though, and looked alright, and can be bought at Publix, so I heard. Go, try it.

Anyhow, in the context of german food, I need a different thing than what you can get at Publix - here's my Bratwurst concept:

You go to a little takeaway. A very heavy elderly lady with bleached curly hair that appears a little on the greasy side after a day of hanging out in that little fryer-world, in a white work-dress, almost like a labcoat, grabs a couple of those long, slender sausages, clear casing, filled with white, finely ground meat, with very small speckles from parsley. She throws them on the grill, rolls a few previously started ones around to get nicely brown outside. She takes a white wheat bun, soft inside, with a lightly crunchy crust, that makes a crackling sound as she cuts it half open with that huge knife, picks one of those beautifully browned, partly broken up sausages for me, and shoves it into the bun, so sausage looks out on both ends. She hands it to me, I use the mustard-push-device to cover the sausage along its whole length - there it is. Not even just Bratwurst. It is Rostwurst.

So, yes, I haven't had Bratwurst at the Oktoberfest. Don't blame me, I'm spoiled. :)


***

Beer - beer? Yes, well.. I'm not big on bavarian Weissbier. Sorry. The Oktoberfest in Nashville actually did not feature that either - there was some good stuff from the local Blackstone brewery, something a little on the malty side, I forgot which one.. Nashville is actually a really nice city for beer drinkers - there are several small breweries, each with distinct specialties that one can get seriously used to. If you get the chance, get a sampling set and an appetizing cheese plate & roasted nuts at hidden special treat Yazoo, then go to Big River on Broadway, have a heavy southern dinner, like Magnolia ribs with your magnolia brown ale, watch cowboy hats in horse carts passing by and listen to the distant noise of the downtown music scene, then move up-town to Boscos on 21st for another sample set & apple crisp for dessert...
and if you don't have enough yet, join me at 12th South Taproom to find more beers to select from then you can count at that point..

Savoy/Savoir vivre

Some things are too good not to be shared..

I love Wirsing, which would be "Savoy Cabbage" in the US. Great texture, great flavour, that is not as intensely cabbagey as some other veggies out there and more nut-tasting.
It can easily stand out with fried bacon & onion, be entirely happy in a stew with grapes and pears to accompany a piece of pork loin, and be a wonderful casing for mushroom-dumplings..

Another great way to deal with this cabbage is to blanch the leaves, fill them with ground hazelnuts and Gruyère pieces, roll the leaves individually up and lay them out next to each other in a baking pan, make a nice, fresh, savory tomatosauce, pour it over the cabbage rolls & bake this whole thing for about 20 minutes at estimated 425 deg F. This gives a really nice, late summer, early fall appetizer, that brings out the best in savoy cabbage.

I just recreated this dish, much simpler, and almost as amazing: fry half a chopped red onion in a little bit olive oil, and add early on ground hazelnuts; let them roast and fry a little, then add a third chopped savoy cabbage, and two tomatoes in big pieces. Add salt and pepper, a little water, and put a lid on for about 10 minutes. Lower the heat a little to let the vegetable steam lightly. Check back early to make sure that the cabbage retains some crispiness and keeps the nice color.
I just ate three plates of this (the last is on the photo), after grating a special cheese over the steaming hazelnut-veggie: Kaltbach, from Switzerland, lets Gruyère mature in a sandstone cave close to Lucerne for an extended period to a creamy flavorful nuttiness.
The cheese makes the savoy cabbage promote its own nut-aspects, and so do the roasted hazelnuts. The onion supports the savoriness of the whole dish, and the tomatoes bring in the acidity of the late summer.

That is Savoy cabbage style savoir vivre.

The last peppers of the season

This is just a little thankyou to the provider of these beautiful little peppers -
I filled them with sort of Biryani rice (cooked with raisin, cardamom, safran, & coconut flakes), and chicken and tomato that were seared in a indian ginger-cumin-garam masala-garlic spice mix, together with some locally grown fresh okra that I placed on top of the pepper-filling. They were baked for about 15 minutes at 470deg F, still crispy & crunchy. I'm eating them right now with sprinkles of fresh cilantro, lime, and red onion.

The peppers are outstanding, even with all that stuff in them..! :)