Rotkohl (Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage)

Anyone who has had a German meal has mostly likely had rotkohl, that sweet and sour stewed red cabbage, as an accompaniment. It might be habit, or it might just be my personal bias, but I don't think that any German meal is complete without some sort of red cabbage side dish, and this one is my favorite.

Red cabbage is often shunted to the back of the class, relegated as a sometime slaw ingredient or an occasional burst of color and crunch of texture in a green salad, or tossed into borscht and then largely forgotten. Sometimes people will stew it beyond recognition into a purple mush.

It is the red-headed stepchild of the vegetable crisper, and there is no need for that.

Marry the cabbage with the right combination of flavors, certain spices and, mostly importantly, avoid cooking it down to a flatulence-inducing mess of stewed leaves, and you've got a wonderfully fragrant and comforting dish.

The apple, the cloves and juniper, the vinegar and sugar all combine to create a satisfying dish that lures you in. The first bite grabs you with tartness, but then mellows out with a hint of sweetness and then rounds off with the notes of clove and juniper. Each mouthful always leaves me wanting another, wondering if that same progression of flavors would appear with the next forkful.

It always does.

Rotkohl

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head small red cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 Granny Smith, peeled and julienned
• 1/2 onion, julienned
• 1-1/2 T butter
• 1 t sea salt
• 4 black peppercorns
• 2 cloves
• 3 juniper berries
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 T sugar

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.
2. Add the cabbage, onion and apple and mix so that everything is nicely coated with the butter.
3. Add the water, vinegar, sugar and spices and bring to a boil.
4. Once it boils, cover and reduce the heat to low and keep simmering for 1-1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Notes:

• I saw some recipes that called for a slurry of cornstarch and water to be added once the dish had finished cooking, but I didn't see the need for it. I don't mind if my cabbage is a little bit juicy. The spaetzle can always soak it up. :)

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Apple and Goat Geese Galette with Honey-Vanilla Sauce

I was traipsing though the grocery store yesterday, uncertain if I was going to make a mini Black Forest cherry cake or some sort of apple thing for my dessert. I have always liked the flavors of apple and goat cheese together, and when I went to check out the goat cheese selection, I saw that in addition to the usual herbed and peppered varieties, they had this:

Honey vanilla goat cheese.

Oh my GOD. Thank you, Woolwich Dairy, Inc. for bringing us this wonderful flavor!

When I saw the honey vanilla goat cheese, I knew that I had to pair that with a Granny Smith apple. I had read several apple galette recipes that included a layer of frangipane beneath the apple slices, and I thought that this honey vanilla goat cheese would be a wonderful substitution, so I decided on an apple galette. I immediately grabbed the goat cheese and headed off to the freezer section for a box of puff pastry - no time to make my own today - and hurried back to my tiny kitchen.

Top it with a simple vanilla sauce spiked with honey, and you've got this:

Apple & Goat Cheese Galette with Honey-Vanilla Sauce

Makes four 4 in. galettes

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• Honey-vanilla goat cheese
• 1 Granny Smith apple, cored, peeled and sliced into paper-thin slices
• 1 T butter, melted
• 1 T honey

For the Honey-vanilla sauce:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 T honey

Make the honey-vanilla sauce:

1. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Add them to the cream in the top of a double boiler and heat until warm, not boiling. Let simmer for 15 minutes, then remove the bean pod.
2. Whisk together the egg yolk and 2 T of honey. Add a small amount of the warm cream to the egg, whisking fully. Slowly add the warmed egg mixture to the cream in the double boiler, whisking well.
3. Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until it starts to bubble a bit around the edges.
4. Remove from heat and refrigerate.

Prepare the galette:

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Thaw the sheet of puff pastry for about 45 minutes. 
3. Cut out four 4 in. rounds from the pastry by using a bowl as a guide. Lay a slightly smaller bowl on top of the rounds and press down to leave an indentation in the pastry. This will be the lip of the galette.
4. Spread goat cheese on the pastry and top with overlapping slices of apple.
5. Mix together the honey and melted butter and brush on top of the apple slices and the edges of the pastry.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges start to brown.
7. Drizzle the honey-vanilla sauce on top and eat warm

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Shrimp and Grits with Roasted Corn

I had grits once when I was younger. They were gray, lumpy, gluey and looked totally unappetizing. I was unimpressed.

Then I actually tasted them.

Color me even more unimpressed.

Over the years I've heard people talk longingly of shrimp and grits and cheese grits and I would shudder and think, "How can anyone possibly EAT that?"

Then Renée set me straight about grits and corn grits.  She gave me her favorite recipe for corn grits with roasted corn, told me exactly what type of corn grits to buy, what to serve it with, and I was very interested. It sounded good, for sure- what's not to love about roasted corn, butter and heavy cream? So I filed it away for future reference.

For some reason, when I woke up today, I said to myself, "Now is the day for those grits, and I feel the need for spicy shrimp to go with it." Maybe it's the cold and dreary weather making me yearn for something hot. Maybe it was the fact that I caught sight of the bag of corn grits yesterday when I was hunting around for the bag of tapioca pearls. Who knows? Long story short, the recipe is fantastic and I am a grits convert.

The spicy and still sweetish shrimp contrast perfectly with the creaminess of the grits. It's insane.

I can't wait to try out cheese grits next. :)

Shrimp and Grits with Roasted Corn

Serves 3

For the grits:

• 3/4 cup stone-ground corn grits
• 3 cups water
• salt
• 1 t Creole seasoning or Old Bay
• 2 T chives 
• 2 T butter
• heavy cream

For the corn:

• corn from 2 ears of fresh corn (about 1-1/2 cups kernels)
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 1 T butter, melted
• 1/8 t granulated garlic
• 1/8 t smoked paprika
• salt and pepper

For the shrimp

• 9 medium cleaned shrimp, raw
• Old Bay or Creole seasoning

• chopped green onion

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil.
2. Toss the kernels of corn and onion in a bowl with salt, pepper, granulated garlic and smoked paprika.
3. Add the melted butter and toss well.
4. Spread in the foil-lined pan and roast for 25 minutes, stirring them once half-way through.
5. While the corn is roasting, bring 3 cups of lightly salted water to boil and add the corn grits, lowering the heat to low. Stir frequently to be sure that it doesn't stick. Careful, like oatmeal, bubbles might burst out and splatter you with wicked-hot starchy grain. Ouch.
6. After about 10 minutes, add 1/2 teaspoon of Creole seasoning or Old Bay and fresh chives. Stir well and let cook another 15 - 20 minutes.
7. Once it has cooked through and is the thickness you like, add about 1/2 of the roasted corn and onion to the grits and stir well. Set aside the remaining corn and onions. 
8. Add the butter and stir well to let it melt. Then add heavy cream to achieve the consistency you like. I only used a few tablespoons. Taste to check and adjust seasoning. You may want more spice or more cream.
9. Season the shrimp with Creole seasoning or Old Bay. Heat a heavy skillet over high heat and sear the shrimp for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip them, cover the skillet and let them cook another minute or two until done, but be careful not to overcook them.
10. Divide the corn grits between 3 bowls and top with the remaining roasted corn and onion. Sprinkle with chopped green onion and top with seared shrimp.

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Fun With Food

The Easter Bunny came a day early to my house since I won't have my kids on Easter morning. The Easter Bunny is accommodating that way. Anyway, I the Easter Bunny recalled that the kids had been screaming for Peeps, so I, that is, the Easter Bunny got some purple and yellow Peeps.

So today, I suggested PeepS'Mores.

Yum. Even  I  had one.

PeepS'Mores

Here's how you do it:

Catch a Peep and skewer it. Assemble your chocolate and graham crackers and get a reliable source of flame. I used my new little blowtorch until I ran out of butane.

*blink*

So then I just used one of the gas burners on the stove and prayed that I wouldn't have a melted mess of blackened marshmallow to clean off. 

It worked great.

Before:

Torch the Peep. He may catch fire.

That's ok. Blow out the flames.

Smush the Peep down

Make sure he's melting and oozing and then eat it.

 Kid #2's PeepS'More, chomped.

Another view of melting marshmallow:

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Coming Soon on Crisis Brownies

I am 99% certain that I will be making Jaeger Schnitzel for myself this weekend. I don't have my kids this weekend, so I can really feel free to make only what I know will appeal to me, and the German Potato Pancakes from earlier this week got me craving German food. I haven't had a good Jaeger Schnitzel since the Gasthaus Edelweiss days. Another dish would would be yummy now, and ironic, considering it's Easter weekend, would be Hasenpfeffer, but where in the hell would I get a rabbit?

Anyone?

So, it may be a German-food weekend. In keeping with the German + Easter theme, I'll probably be listening to the St. Matthew Passion all weekend long, taking a break only long enough to squeeze in the Rachmaninoff Vespers, so maybe I'll make Russian Black bread or something.

And now, for your listening pleasure, my favorite aria from the St. Matthew Passion, the gorgeous bass aria "Mache Dich, Mein Herze Rein," performed by one of my favorites, Matti Salminen:

And a beautiful choral piece from the Rachmaninoff Vespers, the Hail Mary:

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Omelette

One of my favorite quick, I-have-no-idea-what-to-cook-for-dinner meals is a simple omelette. It's quick, it's versatile, and you can tart it up any way you like. I'm sure the French would scoff at my omelettes and my omelette-technique - though they'd probably approve of my spelling - but eggs are one area where I don't really care about what others think is "the only correct way" to do them.

For example, I will not, ever, eat eggs that are sunny-side-up, and rarely will I eat them over-easy. I like my fried eggs over hard, yolk cracked and cooked all the way through. Bonus points for a little browning on the egg and the crispy edges on the egg whites. Likewise, the scrambled eggs I saw Jacques and Julia doing on one of their shows once were way too moist and loose for my taste. I like them scrambled a bit more on the dry side, still fluffy, but drier.

They'd probably shudder at the fact that I usually use an EggBeaters-type of liquid egg product, though if I have an omelette on the weekends, I usually make a 3-egg omelette and go crazy. The whole eggs and touch of heavy cream make it fluffy and monstrous and delicious.

Omelettes are great because they are such a versatile vehicle for so many different ingredients: smoked salmon, caviar and dill; taco-seasoned ground beef, cheese and vegetables; pesto, tomatoes and mozzarella; hey I've even put leftover potatoes in an omelette. Vegetables? Yes. A smidge of seafood in a cream sauce? Why not? Go CRAZY.

Of course, they are just as delicious on their own with just a bit of cheese and topped with some salsa.

Omelette with Cheese and Salsa

Ingredients:

• butter
• 1/3 cup EggBeaters
• cheese
• salsa

Directions:

1. Over medium-high heat, melt butter in 9 in. skillet.
2. Pour in your liquid eggs (or 3 eggs beaten with a bit of milk), tilt the pan so it's spread out evenly.
3. Sprinkle some cheese on the top and cover with a lid to let cook for 2 minutes or so until the edges are set. Then fold in half and sprinkle a little more cheese on top.
4. Cover again and let cook for 1 minute, then turn off the heat and let it finish cooking for another minute or so.
5. Plate and top with salsa.

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Fettuccine Alfredo

Pasta is another classic comfort food, and although my favorite pasta dishes number in, oh, probably all of them, fettuccine alfredo is pretty near the top of the list for me. The thing about alfredo is that it is almost always a disappointment when I go out to eat and order it.

I really am not a fan of the Olive Garden. I think that their food is overpriced and mediocre, although I will admit I love their butter-drenched breadsticks. The times I've gone there, I've usually ordered the alfredo and when it came, it was already a mess of separating sauce and overdone pasta, or it was a pile of pasta absolutely drowning in sauce. I prefer a lighter touch with the sauce, with the fettuccine barely moistened by the sauce, but that's just me. Another great thing about making it yourself is that you can add as little or as much of the sauce as you like.

The thing is, it is so easy to make you'll never go out for alfredo again. Alfredo should be devoured eaten almost as soon as it hits your bowl. You may curse me when you try this for yourself and see how easy it is.You can suit just about anyone's taste for ingredients and the amount of sauce, too, so it is totally win-win.

Fettuccine Alfredo

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. whole wheat fettucine
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 T salted butter, cut into 1/2 T slices
• 1/2 cup freshly grated  parmesan or romano
• granulated garlic
• salt 
• pepper
• parsley

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta until it's al dente, still firm when you bite into it, not mushy, but not still crunchy. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat the cream in a skillet until it starts to bubble at the edges. Add the butter, a smidge (oh, a pinch, less than 1/8 t) of granulated garlic, salt and pepper and let cook until the butter melts into the cream. Taste it to check for seasoning.
3. Add  1/3 cup of the cheese and stir well until it melts into the sauce.
4. Toss the pasta into the skillet and mix well, serve, topped with fresh herbs like parsley or basil, plus additional grated cheese and eat immediately.

Notes:

• You can mix in all sorts of things: shrimp, chicken, vegetables, but I like it plain with just the peas and really good-quality cheese.
• I used some locatelli pecorino romano which I usually use in risotto, but man, it works nicely in this too.
• I used whole wheat fettuccine, which is why it looks a bit dark in the photo. I usually try to make the dish a little less of a perilous assault on my blood sugar levels.
• If you like a lot more sauce with your fettuccine than you see in the photo, you can easily adjust the amount of pasta.
• This recipe easily doubles or quadruples to feed more people or people with enormous appetites.

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