German Meatballs

As  you are reading this I am traveling around Germany. I thought I'd  leave a couple of recipes for you. In case you miss me. So have fun cooking and enjoy some of the foods I'll be eating while in the Vaterland.

Growing up these German meatballs were one of my favorite meals. In German they are called

Königsberger Klopse. They are not very hard to make and quite the crowdpleaser.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons of butter
• flour
• 3 cups of broth
• 500 grams of ground meat (mix of pork and beef is best)
• 1 egg
• medium sized onion chopped finely
• breadcrumbs
• capers
• lemon zest and juice
• a couple of splashes worcestershire sauce
• splash of dry white wine such a riesling
• pepper and salt to taste

Put the ground meat in a mixing bowl and add the egg, breadcrumbs, diced onions, worcesterauce, pepper, salt. Mix together with your hands careful not to squeeze too much. Shape into meatball of about 2 inches in diameter.

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and brown lightly. Add the broth and make a rue. Put in the capers, lemon zest, and worcestershire sauce. Once the sause has thickened (after 10 minutes of cooking it on medium low temperature) add the meatballs to the sauce. Cook them slowly careful not to boil them for they might fall apart if the sauce is too bubbly...

Season to taste using pepper, salt, lemon juice, and a splash of white wine.

Serve with rice, and a vegetable or salad on the side.

Perfect German Potato Salad

Hello, October! Time for some beer and brats for the German Immigrant doll maker. Oh well, the brats in this nation are not my thing. To my German tastebuds they are either too salty, or too dry, or too fatty.  Please, if you do find a good bratwurst point me the right way. I have tried and tried. I sampled about every kind of sausage from the regular grocery store to the high end whole food stores in a 100 mile radius. In my opinion there are no good sausages in Colorado. How come?

So I'll stick with the beer and some homemade good old German Potato salad. I think it's about high time I share my mom's secret recipe. Who the heck had the idea to put Mayonaise in a potato salad? Not only is it bad for you health it is wrong - just wrong!

We harvested 15 pounds of potatoes from our community garden patch. What better thing to do than make a salad from them? Right from the ground they went into our tummy.

What you need for this recipe are the following ingredients:

1-2 pounds boiled potatoes, with the skin left on if they are new
1/3 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, crushed in garlic press or cut up finely
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
chives

3-4 sliced radishes
2 tomatoes sliced into wedges
1 sliced hard boiled egg (optional)

Scrub the potatoes and boil them whole or cut into evenly sized chunks. Cover with water and put in a pinch of salt. Boil for 15-20 minutes until tender when stabbed with a fork.
While the potatoes are boiling prepare the dressing. Mix broth, vinegar, salt, pepper, crushed garlic, and vegetable oil.


After the potatoes have drained, add them still warm to your dressing and toss it.


Is this a transformer, fertility god, or a really a potato?

All the other ingredients are optional. My husband swears the radishes are not. They add a little zing. Our daughter loves the chopped eggs. Our son is a great fan of chives. So everybody is happy.

It had been a while since I made this dish. When I do I miss my mom intensely...Thank you Mama for teaching me to make the perfect German Potato Salad!

Piece of Cake: German Cherry Crumb Cake - Kirsch-Streuselkuchen

Here is a secret: My husband is a 3-time Weld County Pie Champion blue ribbon winner. I am not! I don't do pies. It's not a German thing. In fact, when we first started dating, we always argued about the usage of the word cake and pie. I'd call his pie a cake, and he 'd be very offended. "It's not a cake! This is a P-I-E! A cake is something different," he woud yell in frustration. Problem is we don't have the word pie in German. A baked sweet something is just a Kuchen/ cake.

Year after year the judge ladies at the fair would ask upon turning in the pie: Did he really make that pie?" They could not believe that a guy could make better pies than the old blue haired ladies...

Well I am not a champion pie maker. And I have never won any of the baked goods competitions at the Weld County Fair. It's just too intimidating with a husband like mine...But here is a really great recipe for an amazing German style cake!

You can make it with sour cherries or any other kind of tart fruit ( apples, red currents, any berries really, or apricots)



Ingredients for the batter:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 125 grams sugar
• vanilla (powder or liquid version)
• 200 grams flour
• 2 tsp. baking powderpinch of salt

for the topping

1.5 cups sour pitted cherries or other sour fruit cut into bitesized pieces



for the crumbs:

• a little over half a stick of COLD unsalted butter
• 75 grams sugar
• 150 grams flour

1.cream the butter with sugar, add the three eggs incorporating one egg at a time mixing it for about a minute, add vanilla flavoring

2. mix flour, baking powder, and salt together.

3. add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients one tablespoon at a time.

4. butter a springform (springform is the kind of pan that's round and the rim pops off after the cake is baked)

5. spread the batter in the springform evenly

6. put the cherries or other fruit on top and spread it evenly


 Make crumbs:
1.cut the cold butter into a small bowl
2.add the flour and sugar to it
3.gently work the flour and sugar with your fingers into the butter

Remember: you are not trying to make dough here! Just a lumpy mixture to spread over your cake!

Bake for about one hour at 375 Fahrenheit in preheated oven. Check with a toothpick for doneness...

This cake is really a piece of cake to make! I have been doing it since I was a young child in Germany. So don't be afraid to try it, and let me know how your's turned out.

German Red Cabbage recipe

In German we say: Essen und Trinken haelt Leib und Seele together. In translation: Eating and drinking keeps the body and soul together. When I miss Germany I like to cook foods that remind me of home...

Maybe you are looking for a hardy side dish to impress your friends with? Searching for your long lost German roots? Or maybe you simply need a veggie to take to a family potluck?


I got just the thing for you: German Red Cabbage.

In order to make it you need:

medium sized head of red cabbage
4 Tsp butter
half of a large onion or small onion sliced
2 small apples, on the tart side, washed, cored, skin left on, chopped roughly
3 Tsp vinegar (I use cider or red wine vinegar)
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves or 4 whole cloves
1/2 cup chicken broth
red wine
pepper and salt to taste

1. Melt butter in a large pot and add chopped onion and apple pieces. Let them soften for a a few minutes over low to medium heat.

2. Add shredded cabbage with a bit of water. Put the lid on and wilt the cabbage, turning it a few times.

3. Add spices, vinegar, broth, sugar, and simmer cabbage until it becomes soft, about 20-30 minutes

4. add some raisins and a few splashes of red wine. The red wine helps the cabbage to maintain a nice red color... Simmer slowly for another 15 minutes.

This recipe makes a large serving that will feed 8-10 people. Germans serve it for festive occasions with poultry such as goose or a Sunday roast. But it makes a great side to any meat dish. Red cabbage tastes best if made a day ahead. You can also cook it in the morning and reheat it for dinner to make it perfect! It can be frozen in a container and used another day when you don't have time to cook...

Hope you try it and let me know how the family liked it!

Best Cake Recipe ever: Rotweinkuchen

Are you a fan of dark chocolate? Love the taste of red wine? I love both but have found that, as I am getting older, I am prone to bad headaches having red wine. The only way I can consume it these days, is in cooked or baked form. Luckily I have a recipe combining these two wonderful flavors into one amazing dessert.

When asked what birthday cake to make for friends or a family member,  they will always shout: Rotweinkuchen (transl. Red Wine Cake)!

This recipe was given to me by a friend in college many years ago. So thank you, Nanette! I will always fondly remember those afternoons hanging out together in your Berlin kitchen and baking this delicious cake.

Ingredients:

250 g butter
250 g sugar
4 eggs
1 packet Vanilla sugar, or if you can't find it in grocery store some vanilla flavoring
250 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking cocoa
125 g dark chocolate chips chopped into smaller pieces
1 scant cup of red wine

1.cut up butter in small pieces and cream it together with the sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl

2. using a hand mixer incorporate the eggs one egg at a time, blending for about a minute per egg

3. mix together the remaining dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon

4. incorporate dry ingredients into the egg butter mix adding a little at a time
5. add chopped chocolate chips
6. mix in the cup of red wine

Bake in well greased Bundt pan or loaf pan in preheated oven  at 375 Fahrenheit or 180. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

No reason to polish off the rest of the red wine after a dinner party! Tell the guests to come back the next day for cake! =)