Nudelsalat ( pasta salad )

Just like with the potato salad , every German family have their own Nudel Salat/Pasta Salad. The one big difference  between the potato salad and the pasta salad is that the pasta salad has so many different taste directions . I would like to share the more traditional German version with you.

Ingredients

250 g uncooked Pasta ( of your choice)

2 hard boiled eggs

2 -3 slices of cooked ham/ or one cooked frankfurter

1 diced sweet red pepper

2-3 diced pickled cucumber/gherkins

Some crushed hazelnuts

2-3 Tbsp mix of chives and parsley

Salad sauce

In a bowl mix I portion of the normal vinaigrette with 2 tbsp mayonnaise of your choice, some fresh cream or Greek yoghurt until you have a smooth sauce.

I use a little whisk for best results .

  

Method

1 cook the pasta until just ready. Rinse with cold water and shake well to dry.

2 add all ingredients in a large bowl, add the pasta and the salat sauce and mix well.

Garnish with egg quarters and gherkins . 

For best results leave it stand in the fridge for at least an hour!

Note

For a vegetarian pasta salad omit the ham or the sausage and add a diced crunchy apply instead.

Note 2

For a more Mediterranean  twist add some diced tomatoes, some fresh basil and fresh oregano and use slivers of Italian salami or Parma ham

It is fun to add and change different ingredients and find the one you like best

        Guten Appetit / Buon Appetito

Kartoffelsalat (Potato Salad) the Queen of salads!

Thanks to the wonderful warm, sunny weather, it is time to part with the old time favourite, the Queen of Salads,
Kartoffelsalat.
There isn't a family in Germany which does not have their own recipe of Potato Salad.
One of the most  common snacks in a German Pub used to be, and still is in the more traditional Pubs, "Würstchen mit Kartoffelsalat" a hot dog with potato salad.
The type of Salad changes depending in what part of Germany you are in. In the North, West and East it is mainly made with Mayonnaise, whereas the further South you go, it is without Mayonnaise.  Depending whether you are in the Southwest of Germany or in Bavaria, croutons of crisp bacon are added.
There is a common consensus in our family that the Potato salad tastes best with home made Mayonnaise,
but if you could not be bothered or you are pregnant ( raw eggs in the home made mayonnaise) use the commercial mayonnaise you like best

The traditional Potato Salad.

   

Ingredients

1 kg of salad potatoes or hard boiling potatoes

2 portions of the normal vinegar dressing ( see salad dressings)

Salt  and pepper to taste

1 large onion

Mayonnaise, the amount depends on the potatoes and your taste (start with 2 Tbsp)

Some fresh cream ( optional for a less "mayonnaisy" taste)

Bundle of fresh chives

Some parsley for decoration

Hard boil eggs for decoration

Method

1. Boil the potatoes in their jackets, let cool and peel

2. Cut into slices

3. Add the vinaigrette, the onion and chives, mix well

4. Add mayonnaise and cream and mix

Note: For best result let the salad stand for a few hours before serving

Homemade Mayonnaise

Ingredients

1 free range egg

approx. 1/4 l rapeseed/or sunflower oil

fresh lemon juice to taste

salt & pepper to taste

1/4 tsp (unbleached) sugar

1/2 to 1 tsp mustard ( depends how much you like mustard)

Method

1. Put the whole egg (egg white and egg yolk in a food processor.

2. Whisk for 2-3 minutes

3. Start adding the oil drop by drop ( while the egg mixture is whisking around) and then in a slow steady stream. The mixture should be thickening quite quickly

4. When you have the right consistency, add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until they are well mixed.

Bavarian or southern German Potato Salad

For the people who do not like mayonnaise  in their Potato salad 

 Ingredients

Basically the same ingredients as for the traditional potato salad except for

1/4 l hot chicken stock ( amounts can slightly vary depending on your potatoes)

Method

The same as above, except that you add the chicken stock while the potatoes are still warm.

the finished result

Guten Appetit

More and more salads

It looks as if we are getting a summer this year. So before it is coming to an end here some more salad recipes. With regards to salads, as I have said already, you can make a salad out of anything that takes your fancy. If you don't know which salad dressing to use, a normal vinaigrette will always "do the job".  Do experiment with different vinegars and oils. I found in France, on a recent visit, a Spanish vinegar, which according to the label, has been created and aged in the old traditional Andalusian way.

It's taste is perfect for  salads gourmands. It taste is not like any other vinegar I have used before, kind of like a Sherry vinegar. Apropos Sherry, both Sherry and Port wine,  even the Martini range can substitute vinegar, if you are using a lot of fruit in a salad
Special oils are another way of "jazzing" up an old reliable. But be careful as vinegars have a long shelve life, oils are inclined to go off within a few months

Greek salad with a difference

For a long time I  had to enjoy a decent Greek salad by myself as my dear Husband is allergic to cucumbers, so I decided that I needed to use a different ingredient to the cucumber, but retain the  same authentic Greek taste if possible. I hit on the humble radish as a replacement. And we both liked it. Needless to say for people who like cucumber, use it or use a mixture of radish and cucumber.
With regard to the vegetables only use ripe tomatoes, really crisp fresh lettuce etc.
With regard to Feta cheese, in a recent tasting test (German TV) the chefs chose the 200g Feta cheese from Lidl, as having the most authentic taste. Their advise:  the more expensive cheeses are not necessarily the better ones. I used for this recipe the Lidl Feta.
The best Feta I have ever eaten, was in my mother's grocery shop, when the Feta came in the big brown canisters, full of big blocks of Feta cheese in  salt brine. The block was about a kilo heavy. I used to cut of a big slice and ate it there and then on a fresh bread roll with tomatoes and olives. Simply delicious. I can still remember that Taste. So if you can buy it freshly cut at a market stall or  in a delicatessen, try it.

Ingredients

ready for assembly

(All vegetable ingredients are washed before using)

1 head of Iceberg lettuce ( or normal lettuce if you prefer) cut

1 tomato per person sliced

1 red pepper, cut into small pieces

1 bunch of spring onions, cut into small pieces

a bunch of radishes cut into slices

a handful of black Greek olives cut (more if you like them)

200 g feta cheese

Salad sauce

ready to use

6 Tbsp olive oil, preferably Greek

the juice of one large fresh lemon

the grated rind of same lemon

salt and pepper to taste

1 clove of garlic (optional)

Mix all the above ingredients

Topping

Use a cup of pine nuts mixed with pumpkin and sunflower seeds and roast them until golden.

(careful it happens very quickly) You can mix the nuts and seeds anyway you like.

Method

Assemble the vegetables on a plate, put the Feta on top, sprinkle the topping over and then add the dressing. It is nicer to make individual plates as everybody gets the same amount of the ingredients. A little more work, but worth it

The Greek salad with a difference
Αυτό είναι νόστιμα ( this is delicious)

Now to Italy

One of the most basic salads the Italian have as their Antipasti is the Tomato and Mozzarella Salad.

You even get it in all restaurants in the South of France or Spain.  

For a more substantial salad ripe Avocado is added and then they call it Tricolor, the colours of their national flag. In Restaurants they mostly serve it just drizzled with olive oil.

In our Family Recipe I use a vinaigrette with a good Balsamic vinegar. I think it brings out the different flavours best and adds flavour to the mainly plain tasting Mozzarella cheese.

Tricolor

Ingredients for 4 persons

3-4 Ripe tomatoes ( for best result take Plum Tomatoes)

1 Buffalo Mozzarella cheese ( Take the one you like best)

1 large avocado (or two if small)

some fresh Basil leaves (optional)

Method

Cut the tomatoes, Mozzarella and avocados into slices and arrange on a big plate.

Drizzle all over with the vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette 

3 Tbsp good extra Virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp  mature Balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1 clove of garlic (optional)

Note:  A good Balsamic vinegar does not taste "vinegary". It has a smooth, slightly sweet taste

Note 2: Extra Virgin Oil should taste nutty and fresh, if it has a rancid note ( an "olive oil" Taste) Then do not use it.

Not the best arranged salad ( I was in a bit of hurry) but it tasted delicious all the same

                                                               Buon Appetito!

New Pasta(ures)

All Pasta lovers have their favourite Pasta dish. Very often the result is very far from the original Pasta dishes in Italy. On the other hand every Italian family have their own recipes for their beloved Pasta, Spaghetti Bolognese is a case in point

In the homeland of Pasta, pasta dishes are a precursor to the main course, if there is one.

I often wondered why, especially seeing Pasta fills you up. But that is probably the reason. I do like Italian cooking, as it is uncomplicated and quick,  and relies solely on the quality of the produce. 

The base of  most Pasta dishes is a sauce.
Sugo, which is the basic tomato sauce, consists simply of  ripe tomatoes, some salt and pepper and fresh herbs, Basil and Oregano, simmer it for approx. 20 min. and hey presto you have a delicious Sugo.
Serve this with plenty of freshly grated Parmesan and you have a delicious, tasty, quick meal.
Often Pasta is simply tossed in good Extra Virgin Olive oil, freshly grated black pepper and again Parmesan.
In order to make it a good meal though, the Pasta needs to be of good quality.

Fresh Basil

Today I want to share two more Pasta dishes. The first one, I call Greek Pasta because I use mostly "Greek" ingredients. The second one is my favourite Pasta with homemade green Pesto.

Greek Pasta

I got the idea of this dish from a program I saw on one of the American food channels. I liked the idea of using essential Greek ingredients  with Italian Pasta. This dish  is delicious with meat and equally delicious without. So for all the vegetarians, simply leave out the meat and use a medium aubergine and a large medium gourgette instead

Ingredients ( 4 persons)

peppers, mushrooms and herbs

1 small aubergine

1 medium gourgette

1 red pepper

3 ripe tomatoes

150 g button mushrooms

2-3 fresh bay leaves ( or 1 dried bay leave)

fresh flat leaf parsley

fresh oregano or  fresh marjoram

or a mixture of both
300 g pork minced
salt and pepper to taste

aubergine, gourgette and tomato

olive or rapeseed oil for frying

Meat and vegetable mixture

Method

Cut all the vegetables into small pieces

Fry the minced pork meat in some oil until

lightly brown.

Add the vegetables and herbs and continue cooking for a further 5 minutes.

Adjust the seasoning. In the mean time cook the Pasta. Take 2 or 3 Tablespoons of Pasta water and add it to the meat vegetable mixture.

the finished Pasta

Serve with a dollop of Greek yoghurt.

Pasta with Green Pesto

My favourite  pasta dish:  Pasta and green Pesto.

Ingredients for green pesto

1 cup of Extra Virgin Olive oil/ or a virgin rapeseed oil

1 cup fresh basil

some fresh parsley (optional)

30 g pine nuts

15 g almonds flakes (optional)

2 cloves of garlic ( take one if you want it less garlicky or discard them altogether)

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan 

A little fresh lemon juice

Method

ready to mix

 Put  all the ingredients into a vessel and mix it with an immersion blender until you have a not too smooth consistency.

finished result

Buon appetito

Old Fashioned Jam

Gooseberry and Rhubarb Jam

Somehow over the years, maybe because I was too busy, I stopped making jam. It was only when I ended up with a glut of fine gooseberries, that jam making seemed a good option. Although the decision to make jam was helped by the fact, that it is my dear husband's favourite jam.

Jam making is quick and easy and a wonderful way of preserving fruit. I use a recipe from my grandmother, one part of fruit to one part of sugar ( I kilo fruit to one kilo sugar). This way you end up with 50% fruit in the jam. That is more fruit than you find in most super market  jams. 

the finished product

For the following jam I used 

1000g gooseberries

500g  rhubarb

1500g sugar

grated orange peel and juice of one large orange

gooseberries, rhubarb. orange and sugar

You need as well some jam jars. I use a ll kinds of jars I collect over time. 

To sterilize them, simply wash them, put them on a  tray, into the oven and leave them there for approx. 30 minutes at 100C.

Jam jars ready to go  into the oven for sterilization

You need a large saucepan as the fruit sugar mixture will bubble up quite high .

Put all the ingredients into the pot.
Use the highest setting on you cooker to bring the mixture to the boil. Keep the heat steady. 

Fruit and sugar mixture before the heat is turned on.

Fifteen minutes into the boiling process.

Thirty minutes into the cooking process. Stir regularly so that the mixture will not stick on the bottom of the pan. Keep the heat steady.

 Ready after 40 minutes 

 Use a porcelain/china plate to check if the jam is setting. Put a little drop of jam on to the plate, wait a little. If the jam lift up when you touch it with your finger, the jam is ready. The top two were the first try, the last two nearest to the bottom of the picture shows the jam is setting.

Filling the jam jars.
Take the jars from the oven. As the jars are hot you can put the jam mixture straight into the jars.
A dear aunt of mine advised me to use old china vessels for potting the jam, so for the first trial eating I use this pretty sugar pot.

To make sure the jam is protected I dip grease proof paper in a little alcohol, for this jam I used Calvados, important is that the alcohol is 40% proof. This way the jams keeps that much longer.

More Salads

More Salads (Summer Salad and Coleslaw with a difference)

Seeing the time of the year that is in it, I think it is time to write a little more about salads.

Having been brought up in Germany, first in the East and then in the West, Salads have been always been part of our daily eating.

I was reminded of that when I met an old German friend not so long ago, who bemoaned the fact that one could not get a decent mixed salad with a meal in Ireland.

What did he mean by that. Well, there are certain dishes in Germany that are served with a mixed salad. On a German Menu it would appear as , for example:

excerpt from a Bavarian Menu

Rumpsteak mit Pommes Frites und gemischtem Salat. 
You will find this dish on a lot of  Gastro Pubs Menus in Germany.

 The "gemischter Salat", meaning mixed salad, would have, lettuce in a vinaigrette sauce or a cream sauce; cucumber salad; Krautsalat (cabbage salad; not to be mistaken for coleslaw), green or yellow bean salad; often celeriac salad; carrot salad. More often there isn't a tomato in sight.

Germans make  salads out of just about any vegetable and fruit

depending on the season. In May you will always get some white asparagus tips as part of the mixed salad.

Mixed salad leaves

In the summer, you will find fruit, like strawberries, Raspberries etc.  Come  autumn, the root vegetables will come to the forefront and the different cabbages. In  winter instead of hothouse lettuce, lambs salad is used which tastes best after the first frost.
Most supermarkets now have a vast variety of different salad leaves, from the normal head of lettuce, via the Lollo Rosso as far as the bitter Radicci.


Now to some recipes.

The following salad can be done as a side or as a main


Summer Mixed Salad

Ingredients (adjust the amounts to the number of people you want to serve)

a summer salad

lettuce leaves

spring onions

tomato squares/slices

avocado slices

red/yellow peppers slices
beet root slices ( optional)
red onion rings ( optional)

hard boiled eggs, quartered

fresh herbs (chives. parsley, basil) 

the amount and mixture depending on your taste

some grated cheese (optional)

some cooked ham ( optional)

Method

Arrange the salad ingredients on a large plate. Serve the Salad Sauce separately so that the salad will be crispy fresh when eating. 

Salad sauce/Dill Sauce

1 helping of the normal vinaigrette

2 Tbsp crème fraîche ( or sour cream

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp mayonnaise

fresh dill or 1/2 Tsp dried dill

Mix all the ingredients until you have a smooth sauce

Fresh Dill Sauce

Coleslaw with a difference

Ingredients ( 4-6 persons)

1/2  head of white cabbage (shredded)
1/2 red pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1 crispy apple ( gala etc)
1 shredded carrot
chives
parsley (optional)

Salad  Cream Sauce
Use the recipe for the dill sauce, just leave out the dill

Method

Mix all the shredded and cut vegetables and toss in them in the Cream Sauce

                                                 Guten Appetit

Pork Schnitzel (à la Wiener Schitzel)

Pork Schnitzel

Schnitzel is probably the most liked meat dish amongst our family and friends. I cannot count the times we sat around the table enjoying the Schnitzel with  cheesy potatoes, or scalopped potatoes and a green salad in a cream dill sauce  and/or cucumber salad as well. It is tasty quick to make and once you take care of a few important little details, it is a meal fit or a king or your family and friends.
With other  words: if it is done well it is absolutely delicious, if it is done badly, it is simply horrible. 

This is why I have decided to accompany the method steps with photos, so that you can compare it with what you are doing.
PS The real thing is of course Wiener Schnitzel, which is made exactly like the following recipe, except  the real Wiener Schnitzel has to be made with veal.

The ingredients are simple.

Ingredients

1 or 2 (depending on size and hunger) of pork centre loin chops

1 or 2 beaten eggs ( the qantity depends on the above)

approx 250 gr fresh breadcrumbs ( gives the best result, but you can use commercial breadcrumbs if fresh ones are not at hand)

salt and pepper to taste

enough Rapeseed or Sunflower oil to cover the frying pan very well, better a little more than less.

Method

1. Trim the pork chop and cut off any fatty pieces. Then with a meat tenderizer flatten the chop as much as possible

Left side: before beating                               right side after beating

2. Prepare the eggs and breadcrumbs in a large bowl or on a large plate. Beat the eggs, season  both with salt and pepper. I just use a pinch of salt and pepper for each.

breadcrumbs   and beaten eggs

3. Dip the escalope first in the egg mixture, make sure that both sides are coated well and then dip it into the breadcrumbs. Again, making sure that all the escalope is covered. Set aside and continue until you have all escalopes done. Should you run out of either breadcrumbs or egg mixture, just replenish. If you run out of egg and don't have another one, you can use a tablespoon or two of fresh cream and mix it around in the egg bowl. That will work.

ready for the frying pan

4. Put  enough oil in the frying pan so that the escalopes are sitting on a film of oil.

NOTE: Too little oil will make the breadcrumbs stick to the pan.

NOTE 2: Do not get tempted to deep fry the escalope, it just does not do the chop any justice and the breadcrumb cover will simply detach from the meat

sizzling at medium heat

5. Fry the chops at medium heat from both sides until they are golden brown.

Careful, if the oil is too hot, the breadcrumbs will burn too quickly and the meat will not be cooked.

just about right! 

You can serve the escalopes with just about any sides you like.
I mostly serve it with some kind of potatoe dish and some salads. The family facvourite one is green salad in a cream dill sauce and or cucumber salad.

Quick sauce for the green salad

Make the normal  vinaigrette ( 3 oil to 1 vinegar, salt and pepper to taste)

To this you add a couple of table spoons of fresh cream,
1 crushed garlic
1 tsp of sugar ( preferably unrefined)
1 tsp of dried dill or 1 Tbsp of fresh dill
you can add fresh chives and or parsley

Cucumber Salad

Thinly slice the cucumber ( some take the skin off, some leave it on, it depends on what you like), then use the vinaigrette recipe plus the the cream, sugar, dill and chives.
Leave out the garlic.
Cucumber Salad always tastes better when it has had time to absorb all the flavours, so making it at least half an hour before serving is advisable.

Re Sides

Should you not be a total potato lover, the Savoury Rice  ( recipe 9 April )would be a perfect side dish accompanied by a salad made out of cabbage and peppers (recipe will follow)