Let's eat Potatoes and Meat

Last night's dinner was Shrimp Curry that’s really Shrimp Masala. We had an attempt at shrimp curry few weeks ago and that wasn’t successful, actually let’s just call it a failure. So I had to try it again and this time around, it was a huge hit.

But this post isn’t about my cooking. It’s about the German food/cooking.

What we notice regularly is the obsession with potatoes. We know Germans enjoy pork and sauerkraut but they also relish their potatoes. There are potato salads, potato dumplings (Knödel), pancakes and fries. Oh the Germans love fries. When we go to a German restaurant often we see neighboring tables eating French Fries with their meals. Grown adults ordering French Fries. Hopefully after this I won’t be on the French Fry Federation’s hit list because I love French Fries too, not with bratwursts and sauerbraten.

And then the love of potatoes goes beyond that. We’ve had meals come with Knödel and roasted potatoes. So it’s a main meal with a side of potatoes and another side of potatoes.

This isn’t reflective of the German eating habits, it’s mostly how our food consumption has evolved after moving here. Prior to the move we consumed meat 4 times a week, sometimes more and sometimes less. Here we’re finding ourselves eating meat twice a week or less. Although Germans love their pork and eat it very regularly; we, on the other hand, now have a bigger preference for vegetarian meals. The meat we buy is from poultry farmers that have a chicken(Hähnchen), turkey(Pute or Putenfleisch), goose(Gans) and duck(Ente) farm. And our butcher (Metzgerei) has fresh pork, beef and some lamb products. The meat is more expensive here than in the US. I believe the higher costs are reflective of the land that the animals graze on and their feed. (And of course the dollar to euro conversion also makes a difference.) So we’ve accepted our meat comes from a good place and consume less of it.

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

This is so much the Halloween recipe that I waited to post it, on October 31. In fact, tonight’s dinner is chicken chili but I want to share this today because the soup is loaded with garlic. And you know garlic keeps the vampires away. Sometimes, it's easier and fun to be silly.

And though it doesn’t feel like Halloween in the old city here in Germany, I am still playing along.

Grilled Cheese

4- 6 ounces Emmentaler (swiss) cheese, grated

6 slices sandwich bread, sliced 1/4 inch thick (I bought a bread that was part sourdough and part wheat bread from my Bäckerei and it worked)

2 tablespoons butter or clarified butter, softened

Heat a cast iron skillet or a heavy 12-inch skillet over low to medium heat. Meanwhile, brush the outsides of the bread with softened butter. Layer one slice with 1/3 of the cheese and top with the 2nd layer of bread.

Put each sandwich in the skillet. Put another heavy skillet or pan on top for weight. Cook until crisp and deep golden brown, 3 minutes then flip the sandwich, carefully (we had trouble with this because the cheese stuck to the cast iron skillet), and continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Serve immediately with hot tomato soup.

Tomato Soup

5 vine ripe tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 tablespoon clarified butter
1 small onion, sliced or chopped
small Parmigiano-Reggiano rind*, optional
1 cup water
1/4 cream or whole milk

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place whole tomatoes and unpeeled garlic cloves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast tomatoes and garlic until skins are wrinkled, 30- 40 minutes. (My garlic became too brown, but I don’t mind so watch the garlic).

Heat clarified butter in medium pot over medium heat. Add onions and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the cheese rind if using. Peel tomatoes and garlic once cooled. Stir in tomatoes, garlic, salt and black pepper to the pot with onions. Add water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until soup thickens, 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

When slightly cool, remove the cheese rind with a slotted spoon. Blend the soup with a hand blender or a food processor. Pour the soup back into the pot and stir in whole milk. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Serve immediately with cheese sprinkled on top and grilled cheese sandwich.

*Note- when I’ve grated all the cheese from Parmigiano-Reggiano, I save the rind (it is edible) for soups and stews. I add the rind after the onions/garlic/celery/carrots are finished sautéing. The rind releases its flavors while the soup cooks. Then when the soup’s ready, discard the rind. It’s safe to eat but no one wants to get a big piece of semi melted cheese block in a bite. I learned this rind trick from Lidia Bastianich.

(I know many cheeses are naturally aged and have edible rinds but some do not like Gouda. If you decide to add a rind other than Parmigiano- Reggiano, make sure it’s one that is edible otherwise you’ll end up with melted plastic soup.)

Greek Baked Beans

This was inspired from our dinner at Meteora Taverna. The beans and lamb were so good, I wanted nothing but to try this at home. I looked up many recipes online and created my own from the various versions. The key was to braise the meat with the beans. The other thing were the herbs, dill and oregano were repeated in almost all the recipes. Parsley was also an important element but I don’t remember parsley in the dish we ate at Meteroa so I omitted it. That and Parsley and I don’t get on so swell. It’s not you Parsley, it’s me. However I can say I’ve given Parsley a chance here in Deutschland and it’s worked so far, I added it to a soup and I didn’t mind its forthright taste. Who knows, this may be the place I find Parsley’s flavor appealing. The recipe implies baked beans but I, on the other hand, did not bake ours. This is why I call it my own recipe.

Gigantes Plaki (Greek Baked Beans) and Chicken

1 1/2 cup dried gigantes (or lima beans)
4 bone-on chicken pieces, (dark meat is preferred because of the long braising time)
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic
4 cups water (stock would be better)
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon tomato paste
6 medium tomatoes, diced
salt and pepper to taste

Soak the beans in water overnight.

Heat oil in a 5 quart dutch oven. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces on both sides. Add the seasoned chicken to the dutch oven with hot oil. Cook on the first side for 8 minutes, or until the chicken is ready to turn. If the meat is sticking to the pan, let it continue to cook on the first side. Turn and cook for 6 minutes. Remove the chicken from the dutch oven to a plate. Add bay leaves and garlic and let them cook for 20- 30 seconds. Then immediately add the drained beans. Stir in dill, oregano, salt and pepper. Add 1/2 cup of the water. With a wooden spoon, scrape up the brown bits from the pan. Increase the heat, add the chicken and the other 3 1/2 cups of water. (The water should be half way to the chicken.) When liquid is boiling, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hour.

After the first hour, stir in the tomato paste and diced tomatoes and continue to cook, covered, for 30 minutes. Then remove the chicken and continue cooking the beans, uncovered, 20 more minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Serve warm with chicken and crust bread.

Yields 4 servings

unusual

In all of my young-adult and adult life, I’ve always had a car. Even while living closer to Washington DC for college my parents gave me a car (mostly so I would come home in the weekends and not go to DC.) Same goes for him. All of his young-adult and adult years had some mode of transportation that he called his own. Briefly when he first arrived in United States for graduate school he did not have a car but that didn’t last long. When family visited from India he bought a car to travel with them. So the unusualness is this is the first time in our lives neither of us has a car. Thankful to a very well built public transportation infrastructure, we haven’t had a need for a car. Once in a while, when we need to buy a large piece of furniture we wish for one but other than those times we love not having one (and its maintenance). Which leads me to walking. Walking a lot and often. We walk everywhere. And we enjoy it. Not only is this good for the environment, it’s great for our waist lines. Together, we’ve lost 30 pounds or 14 kilograms since moving to Germany. This is also unusual because in United States I paid gym membership for years to go regularly and never saw weight loss results. So this walking thing has multiple benefits.

Then the other unusual thing, when we lived in United States, I didn’t care much for wings. They were fine, once in a blue moon but I never had the craving for them. The husband on the other hand was a complete different scenario. There was a wing place close to work and often he and his coworkers went there for happy hour and “dinner”. I never understood how wings can be sufficient for dinner, maybe having many wings and a lot of beer makes a complete meal? I digress. So never having a craving for wimpy piece of meat I was surprised to learn there isn’t one restaurant in town that serves tasty wings. What’s the saying about ‘you always want what you can’t have?’ That was me few days ago, I was craving wings, especially since I knew I couldn’t have them. I asked few vendors at the farmers market and found them.

So I made this recipe with some adaptations and I am renaming it “so good we don’t have time to take pictures wings”

1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns, crushed and chopped finely
1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 chicken wings, split into drummettes and wingettes
2 tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove, grated or finely minced
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Sriracha

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a small container, combine Sichuan peppercorns and salt. Sprinkle over both sides of the chicken wings. On a foil-lined, greased baking sheet, add chicken wings. Place in the oven for 10 minutes, turn and bake for 10 more minutes or until almost cooked-through.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add minced garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar and Sriracha. Whisk well to combine. Cook for 1 more minute and then remove the pan from heat.

Transfer chicken wings and Sriracha-butter mixture into a bowl. Using tongs, mix together until wings are liberally covered with sauce. Return coated wings to the foil-lined baking sheet and place in the oven for 6- 8 minutes or until browned.

Serve immediately

As soon as the wings came out of the oven, we gobbled them up. I asked for feedback for future attempts and he said “I love them”. I’ve tried my hand at wings couple times but this is the first time they were this good.

And finally dessert. I rarely bake. Because I despise measuring ingredients and baking food at a specific temperature. I am a chef that cooks with my eyes, nose, ears and hands (obviously, but I like to feel how much salt or spices to add in a dish with my fingers rather than measuring.) So baked desserts are a rare form in my house. Fortunately this dessert is exactly how I like to cook, add ingredients to feel and bake for 30 minutes.

Pear Crumble

2 ripe pears
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons almonds, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel Topping:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup milk, may not use it all
Butter, at room temperature for the baking dish

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Butter a baking dish. Slice the pears and put them in a large bowl. Sprinkle over the brown sugar, flour, almonds and nutmeg and toss to coat the pears with nutmeg. Spread the pears up in a buttered baking dish.

In the same bowl, mash together the butter, brown sugar, flour, and salt with your hands. Stir in milk, a little at a time. The mixture should be sticky and crumbly. Evenly spread the mixture over the pears in the baking dish and bake until the topping is crunchy and browned and the pears are very tender, 30 to 40 minutes.

This dessert was unusually good.

(The dessert can be baked after the wings are done.)

Internet Saga IV

After many weeks of stress and waiting, I am happy to report we are finally connected to the Internet!

Late last week Kabel Deutschland technician came to look at the main cable box in the basement neighbor’s apartment. Fortunately they both arrived at the same time and all the “checking” was completed in 15 minutes. The conclusion? Kabel Deutschland must install a new cable box in an open area (as opposed to in someone’s apartment- duh Einstein! and it took 8+ weeks to figure that out?). The technician had the new box with him but unfortunately did not have the correct parts and tools to install the box. It’s like a carpenter brings timber to make a table and chair but doesn't bring a saw or axe.

Since he didn’t have the parts, we’ll have to wait 2 weeks for it.

But more importantly, earlier in the day Deutsch Telekom came to “turn on” the Internet for Alice. (It was the same guy that stormed out on me the first day this started.) He was nicer this time. I thanked him for his work and he was on his way. The comical part? As he was leaving he says (in German) “this process took a long time.” Since I didn’t understand him the first time, I asked him to repeat it and he said it, louder. I love how people think if they scream the sentence the second (and third) time, we’ll understand. It doesn’t work like that; it’s more annoying because I still don’t understand you and now you hurt my ears.

Regardless, the husband came home that night and fidgeted with the phone and the computer. Unfortunately he had no clue what the prompts were on the phone so he gave up after 30 tries. We called Alice for help but they weren’t helpful either. Then the next day at work, the husband found a website that explained the process of turning Internet and phone on at home. That evening he followed those instructions and WE WERE ON! The phone is still not working (Alice sent an incorrect modem for phone line). However we aren’t too pressed about the phone right now, we’re just happy to have net.

So that's THE END to the Internet saga stories.

Meteora Taverna

We recently went to the north, 3 kilometers north, so not a far distance for a party. After leaving, we both realized we were starving and wanted to stop somewhere for a bite. We were thinking of eating somewhere closer to home in the Altstadt but once we saw few restaurants on the walk back we changed our mind and wanted to try a new restaurant. As we walked passed Meteora Taverna, it was buzzing with people. For a late summer, cool evening all the outside tables were taken. We peaked inside and saw only one table occupied.

We decided to stay solely based upon the outside tables. And boy are we glad we did. We ordered 2 glasses of wine, lamb with beans and lamb with orzo. Before our food came out, the server offered us Greek water. Greek Water? Sure we’ll take it. It was ouzo, anise flavored liquor; good thing he offered it because it was very clean and refreshing.

My dish was braised lamb shank with gigantes (large beans) in tomato sauce and his was braised lamb shank with olive oil drizzled orzo. The portions were hefty but perfect for two very hungry people. Both of our meals were lovely. The braised lamb was delectable, especially mine which was braised in tomatoes. The beans were cooked just right, soft and creamy on the inside but yet still held their shape in the braising. His orzo was especially tasty because of the herb and olive oil flavor.

Although I previously said Delphi was a wonderful Greek place, and it is, I think we’ve found another favorite. This is off the beaten path, away from the city crowd, a family operation (we think) and overall offers great food and service.

Black bean and Roasted Butternut Squash Soup to embrace the cold

We just returned from a trip to Italy. Italy was magnificent, distinctive, tasteful everything great that is associated with Italy. And we were fortunate enough to have temperatures in the 70s and 80s for 85% of our trip. When we arrived it was sunny and warm and the same the day we left. There were couple days towards the end when we were in Venice that it rained and was cloudy but other than those two days, we thoroughly enjoyed the weather. We returned on Sunday afternoon. What did we find? Cold. I was sad it was a drastic temperature shock.

While driving home we caught a glimpse of the Swiss Alps covered in snow.  And if that wasn't enough, upon returning we saw this beautiful color on the trees from our living room window.  This scenery makes it official that it’ll be cold and the days will be dreary in the upcoming months.


We’re trying to embrace the cold and accept the fall and winter months but it’s taking some adjusting especially because we walk everywhere. None the less, one area that will keep us warm is the aromas from the kitchen with homemade meals especially soups and stews.  

Black bean and Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large white onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 dried chiles de árbol, dried & left whole
1/2 teaspoon epazote
2 tomatoes in juice, roasted and chopped
1 pound butternut squash, halved, seeded, roasted and chopped
1 20-ounce can black beans, rinsed, drained (or dried beans, soaked overnight and cooked in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles or in the slow cooker for 4 hours on low)
1 teaspoon Salt

Preheat oven to 400°F

Slice butternut squash in half, oil the cut side, wrap in foil and roast in the oven for 45 minutes. Leave tomatoes whole and add them to the pan with the squash 20 minutes after squash has been in the oven.

Heat oil in heavy 5-quart dutch oven or a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, coriander, chiles, epazote, salt and stir. Cook until the spices release their aroma, 1 minute. Peel and chop the tomatoes and add them with juices to the pot.

When the squash is cool to touch, peel and discard the skin. Chop the squash in large chunks and add to the pot. Stir in the black beans, water and bring to boil. Taste for seasoning, add salt accordingly. (If the beans are canned, reduce the amount of salt that’s added.) Reduce heat and simmer on low for 15 minutes. Taste and season if necessary.