German Geschnetzeltes Chili

When we were looking for cars, we were interested in the Volkswagen Touran.  It had everything; automatic parking, rain sensor, GPS, rear parking sensors, start/stop at traffic lights, a warning sensor for drowsy drivers, dual temperature controls and heated seats.  What it didn’t have was 4 wheel drive and mud/snow tires.  However, the Volkswagen representative assured us that this wasn’t really a problem because, he carefully explained, Stuttgart is located in a warm bowl and rarely gets any snowfall.

It snowed before Thanksgiving and has been snowing for the last 5 days, heavily.  Not really a problem for us as we bought the Toyota Rav 4 with 4 wheel drive and mud/snow tires

I am fascinated by these ubiquitous, marinated pork or veal strips.  Their origin seems to be Turkish cuisine but they are commonly prepared in German households with mushroom sauce.  I would guess that they are marinated in olive oil, garlic, oregano and parsley.

Chili is not a part of German cuisine but I willed it into being today

German Geschnetzeltes Chili

1 lb pork tenderloin strips, marinated with fresh garlic, parsley, oregano and 2 tbsp of olive oil for 1 hour

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 each, red bell pepper and yellow bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp powdered coriander

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 cups chicken broth

2 cans chickpeas, drained

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Sour cream

Scallions, sliced

Fresh oregano leaves, chopped

Sear the pork strips in a hot frying pan then remove and set aside.  Add the tablespoon of olive oil to the pan along with the onion, garlic and bell pepper.  Saute until the onion is soft.  Add the oregano, cumin, coriander and tomato paste, then cook stirring for about 2 minutes.  Stir in the chicken broth, salt, pepper and the seared pork.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 45 minutes.  Add the chick peas and simmer for an additional 15 minutes.

Serve the chili in bowls and top with the sour cream, scallions and oregano.

Magret de Canard a la Vanille

I think I’m suffering from “Francophile creep”, a slow, insidious mind-snatching that occurs after living in close proximity with the consumers of fine wines and cuisine, Les Gaulois.  I never thought this would happen to me but this morning while prepping the  good quality, German duck breasts, I found my self thinking “These look funny, they will probably taste okay but so un-French.”

Oh-My-God!  I’m an American!  France has ruined the world for me!  I only want French butter, wines, meats, foie gras, escargots, mussels and boudin noir.  Of course it didn’t help that Jade said that the magret tasted different.  Sick, sick, sick!  I’m sorry I secretly laughed at you Francophile people.  You couldn’t help yourselves

This recipe comes from L’Aquitaine and I made this about a year ago  http://cookinginsens.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/magret-de-canard-a-laquitaine/.  Today, in consideration of Jade, I added gnocchi with sauteed onions and chives.  I’ve also toned down the butter and sugar for the magret ; not sure if that was good or bad.

A little shot of Calvados would not have hurt these apples.  Next time.

Magret de Canard a la Vanille 

2 uncooked magret de canard

2 packages of sucre vanille; if you can’t find this in a gourmet store, you can make your own http://artofthehome.com/articles/homemade-vanilla-sugar-sucre-vanille-for-baking

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, plus 2 tbsp

2 onions

4 tbsp butter

Cooked gnocchi

Chopped chives

Salt and pepper

3 apples, cored and cut into 8 pieces each

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp sugar

Score the magret on the fat sides in a diamond pattern, sprinkle with 1 package of sucre vanille on both sides,  2 tablespoons of  balsamic vinegar and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

In a sauce pan, boil 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar with 1/2 package of sucre vanille and 1/2 tsp of black pepper until the liquid is reduced by half.   Set aside.

Saute the onions in 2 tablespoons of butter, salt and pepper on a low flame for about 15 minutes, mix with the gnocchi, sprinkle with chopped chives.  Set aside.

Sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon and remaining 1/2 package of sucre vanille on the apples and brown in 2 tablespoons of butter.  Set aside.

Sear the magret de canard on the fat side first for 5 minutes, remove the accumulated fat, turn and cook on the other side for 8 minutes.    Reheat the vinegar reduction, the apples and the gnocchi, slice the magret and serve.

Wine suggestion:  Cremant de Alsace

Braised Rabbit with Parsnips, Carrots and Pearl Onions

The landlord is changing the stove!  I was afraid this blog would turn into a 2 year long whine that nobody would want to read and I certainly would not want to write.  Would not write!  And then what would I do with myself?  Back to genealogy, trying to find slave ancestors that have eluded me for the last 15 years, lurking hungrily around other blogs while eating frozen, microwavable meals from the commissary.  Whew!  Saved!

I miss the variety of the French supermarkets.  The average Frenchman does not eat foie gras everyday but does have affordable, supermarket access to many items we would consider specialties or gourmet; duck legs and breasts, succulent rabbit, entrecote, filet mignon, New Zealand leg of lamb, veal liver, boudin noir, kidneys, fresh fish, mussels, etc.  Browsing the supermarket meat sections in Stuttgart takes me back to those of New Orleans; pork, pork, pork, pork, chicken, pork, pork, pork, pork, beef, pork, pork, pork, lamb.  You get the idea   Thank god for Fresh Paradise  http://www.frischeparadies.de/frischeparadies-maerkte/stuttgart.html

I didn’t get these rabbit legs at Fresh Paradise but in the frozen section of Edeka.  A French import, it says L’as du trefle, ace of clubs, on the package. Love the rabbit.

Afraid to put my new tajine in the Tajine Terminator Oven, I used the $5 big black skillet.  It’s a nice skillet.  I’m glad someone decided to put it up for adoption  I covered it with a top from the apartment’s stock pot.  Whatever.  This is the way it looked in the oven.

I’ve had these pearl onions for a while and this was the perfect opportunity to use them.

I usually don’t find anything exciting at the Christmas fairs, other than tree ornaments, but the Stuttgart fair had several stalls selling molds, cookie and vegetable cutters.  They had every shape you could imagine.

Of course I was mainly interested in the food animal shapes but there were so many, I’ll have to go back.

The rabbit was delicious and fork tender.  I imagine you could do this with chicken legs, adjusting the cooking time down to 40 minutes in the oven covered and 20 minutes uncovered.

Braised Rabbit with Parsnips, Carrots and Pearl Onions

6 rabbit legs

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, coarsely chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 celery branches, sliced

2 parsnips, chaos cut

4 carrots, chaos cut

1/2 tsp peppercorns

2 bay leaves

3-4 fresh sprigs of thyme

1 large fresh sprig of oregano

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup German demi-sec white wine

1/2 lb fresh pearl onions

1 1/2 tbsp butter

Brown the rabbit in the olive oil in a stove top to oven pan, remove and set aside.  Add the onion, garlic and celery to the pan and saute for 2 minutes.  Add the parsnips, carrots, peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme, oregano and saute for 3 minutes.  Pour over the chicken broth, bring to a boil, then top with reserved rabbit.  Pour the wine on top of the rabbit, cover and braise in a 350 F oven for 1 hour.  Uncover and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

Blanch the pearl onions for about 1 minute in boiling water, remove, allow to cool and peel.  Brown the onions in the butter and add to the rabbit for the last 20 minutes of cooking.

Wine suggestion:  Chenas

Cannelloni

When I first got married and hosted dinner parties, my go-to meals were usually pseudo-Italian; spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, cannelloni, things that involved ground beef and cheese.

I guess I finally bored myself and now I rarely make them which is too bad because I think I’m better qualified to bring some authenticity to these plates.  But not today.  Today is a “I can’t be bothered” day, involving cans and “no pre-cook” dried pasta.

Yesterday, we closed a deal on a house rental, move in date December 15th.  Nice house, old decrepit stove.  Landlord vows to seek solution without mentioning the word “purchase.”    Indoor, continuous swimming pool with sauna  Taxes to be paid on rain water, no vacuuming or car washing on Sunday and, in case of need, pedestrian walk snow shoveling duties to be shared with neighbor, choosing even or odd days

If you really can’t be bothered to make the sauce, buy one of those jars of spaghetti sauce.  I would have done this but I couldn’t be bothered to go to the store

Cannelloni

Sauce

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

1 tsp fresh basil, chopped

2 cans diced tomatoes

1/2 cup red wine

1/4 cup water

Salt and pepper

Filling

1 small onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1 lb ground steak

1 cup ricotta

2 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper

20 no pre-cook cannelloni shells

1 1/2 cups mozzarella, crumbled

To make the sauce, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is soft.  Add the oregano and basil, then continue to saute for 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes and red wine and boil for about 3 minutes.  Add the water, salt, pepper, then simmer for 1 hour.

For the filling, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is soft.  Add the ground steak and cook until just done.  Allow to cool.  In the meantime, mix together the ricotta, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper.  When the meat is cool, stir in the ricotta mixture and stuff into the cannelloni shells.

To assemble, spread some tomato sauce on the bottom of a baking pan, top with the stuffed cannelloni and spread more sauce on top.  Sprinkle with the crumbled mozzarella and bake in a 375 F oven for about 30 minutes.

Faux Gumbo

I had a whole chicken and shrimp in the freezer and that, along with refrigerated odds and ends, sounded like gumbo to me.  Problem is, my file gumbo powder is in Sens and I have never made gumbo with okra, nor have I wanted to.  So I decided to make a gumbo-like stew.  Don’t worry Loo-siana people, I know a gumbo when I make it.

I was concerned about the German suppenhuhn or soup chicken.  Did that mean I’d have to boil it for hours to separate the bones from the meat, ending up with stringy chicken?

Refusing to be intimidated and pretending it was just like any other chicken, I assembled my poaching ingredients.

Still, after browning the chicken pieces, I did wonder about the average age of a suppenhuhn.

And after 40 minutes of “poaching”, the chicken was still firmly attached to its bones.  An hour and a half it took; use a regular chicken.  And now a completely gratuitous picture of my new avocado colored tajine, the replacement for my manila colored tajine that was cracked on the apartment’s K-Mart quality electric stove.  Lovely

Another reason this is not real gumbo is that I didn’t have andouille or a similar smoked sausage.  I wanted to substitute with chorizo but the super nice lady behind the meat counter handed me an Italian dried salami, assuring me that it was chorizo.  Politely I said I thought chorizo came from Spain.  But she assured me that Italy and Spain were interchangeable. Not wanting to embarrass us further, I just took the salami  It was okay, it gave the faux gumbo a sort of  ”que sera sera”, whatever, Mediterranean twist.

This was NOT gumbo but it was a very good stew.  I’ll probably repeat this in the future.

Faux Gumbo

1 regular chicken, quartered

Emeril’s essence

2/3 cup vegetable oil

3-4 celery tops with leaves

1 large onion, quartered

4 garlic cloves, quartered

2 tsp peppercorns

2 bay leaves

5 fresh thyme sprigs

1/2 cup  white wine

8-12 cups water

2/3 cup flour

1 cup onion, chopped

1 cup bell pepper, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

8 garlic cloves, chopped

2 smoke sausages or chorizo, sliced

2 tbsp Emeril’s essence

2 tbsp tomato paste

Salt and pepper

1lb shrimp, shelled and cleaned

Cooked rice

Scallions, sliced

Sprinkle the chicken pieces with Emeril’s essence and rub in.  Brown the chicken pieces in the oil, remove and put into a large pot with the celery tops and the quartered onion, garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme, white wine and water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes.  Remove the chicken, allow it to cool, then remove the skin and bones, coarsely shredding the meat.  Set the chicken meat aside.  Strain the broth and  reserve.

Add the flour to the pan and oil you used for the chicken and make a roux by constantly stirring the flour on low heat until it turns a dark brown.  Add the chopped onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic and cook until the vegetables are soft.  Add the smoked sausage, the Emeril’s essence, tomato paste, salt, pepper and cook for about 5 minutes.  Slowly add 8-10 cups of the reserved broth to the mixture, stirring, and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the reserved chicken meat and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes.  Bring the stew to a boil, stir in the shrimp, boil for 1 minute then remove from flame.  Allow the stew to rest for about 10-15 minutes before serving.  Serve over rice and sprinkle with sliced scallions.

Wine suggestion:  Chianti

Honey Mustard Poussin

It’s snowing and will snow for the next 4 days.  I was thinking of making chicken soup but I wasn’t really excited about it for a Sunday lunch.

Jade was pretty definite about wanting gnocchi because the gnocchi she had on Saturday at Amadeus,  an otherwise decent restaurant, was gummy and under cooked.  Bleah.  Though I did envy the balsamic veloute plate decoration; I need to practice.

Her father, for some odd reason, decided on a Mediterranean breakfast that was correct but not what he imagined it to be.

My stuffed dumpling/ravioli, maultaschen, with onion sauce was good but I had the picture-taking tremens, exacerbated by some “beyond Thunderbird”, mulled wine that I had at the Stuttgart Christmas market.  The French always use their young table wines for mulled wine and I guess the Germans do too but……   Okay, I apologize German people.  The maultaschen was very good, as was the young sprout salad  Too bad about the blur, but I liked the colors.

Instead of staying in for Sunday lunch, we decided on another visit to the Stuttgart Christmas market.  So crowded!  Unlike the French Christmas markets, about a third of the stalls were selling hot food; sausages, soups, goulash, steak,  spaetzle, sauerkraut, sandwiches and maultaschen in a clear chicken broth with chives.

In the future, I will only eat maultaschen standing in the falling snow, at an outdoor stand, with clear broth and chives in a cracked blue and white bowl with an enormous soup spoon.  Really.  Sorry Amadeus.

Okay, les poussins.  I bought 2 partially plucked poussins (spring chickens) from Bohm’s a while back on a wild and grabby shopping spree.  Yesterday I liberated them from the freezer and put them in a holding cell in the refrigerator.

Jade went back to school yesterday so, unfortunately, she didn’t get to have her gnocchi.  She can enjoy the pictures

Honey Mustard Poussin

4 poussin

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp melted butter

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 1/2 tbsp honey

Remove the backbones from the poussin with kitchen shears.  Turn over and flatten the birds by gently pressing on the breasts.  Season with salt and pepper.

Blend the butter, mustard and honey together, then brush the poussins on both sides with the glaze.

Roast the poussins on a rack in a 425 F oven, skin side down for 20 minutes.  Turn, brush with more glaze and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes.

Wine suggestion:  Petit Chablis

Strasbourg City Christmas Decorations

I loved the way they decorated the buildings in the city center of Strasbourg.   Do we do this in the States?  I’ve forgotten.  Anyway, I thought this was really getting into the spirit.

I know I was supposed to be looking at the things they had for sale in the stalls but Christmas markets are just markets that are larger and themed with more of the same old stuff for sale, plus Christmas decorations.

These lovely old buildings are perfect for decoration.

In fact, our little town of Sens is not decorated like this.  I’m going to ask M. Parret why.

While we conducted a comparative study of mulled wines, Jade sat for her portrait.

I love this Santa’s reindeer.

I kept thinking Bullwinkle,  searching for a flying squirrel, but I don’t think that’s what the decorators had in mind.

At our break for lunch and more mulled wine we wondered about the origin of the Pied Piper tale, thinking that maybe Hamelin was an French Alsatian town.  No, internet says Germany but then again, Strasbourg was a part of Germany several times.