Austria Day 3 Schweinebraten with kartoffelknodel and kraut

Yesterday our home was filled with the  most wonderful smell imaginable, Schweinebraten. My recipe comes from an old classic cookbook from 1959, Gourmet's Old Vienna Cookbook. I am a lover of old cookbooks anyhow, but this one is a real treat, 600 pages of Viennese history and recipes from very fancy to typical peasant meals.

I cooked my Schweinebraten differently than the they did back in 1959, I used my slow cooker and I highly recommend that you do too. It made it so simple.

Schweinebraten
I used a 4 pound boneless pork butt roast. In my slow cooker I lay 2 carrots and 2 chunked up onions. On top of that I sat my roast. I spread 3 cloves of minced garlic all over it, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 bay leaf, peppered and salt if desired. Add 1/2 cup of water to bottom of pot and 1/2 cup of white wine. Cook on low for 7-8 hours. If you are home while cooking it spoon the juices over the roast every once it awhile, it will help keep it moist and let the white wine penetrate the roast. Once the roast is done, remove onto a platter to rest.

To make the Sauce: Pour the juices through a seive and heat in a pan on the stove top.

 Add a little more wine if you need more sauce. Mix 2 T of flour w 2 T water until smooth and add to sauce to thicken it.

 Right before serving add 1 cup of sour cream to the pan and blend quickly.

Mix sour cream in quickly and remove from heat. This is wonderful gravy! 

According to my husband AND the Old Vienna Cookbook, the perfect accompaniment to Schweinebraten is kartoffelknodel and kraut. I have to agree.

Kartoffelknodel (Potato dumpling)

This is easier than you would imagine. First boil 4 large potatoes, or 8 small potatoes, whatever you have at home. Don't even bother to peel them. Once they are fork tender drain and then cool with cold water.

 Then slip off skins and put them into a bowl.

 Using a potato masher smash them finely. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour, stir and then 1 beaten egg. Salt and pepper as desired. With your hands knead it into a ball like dough, add more flour if too sticky.

 Put a pot of salted water on to boil. Shape dough into balls about the size of golfballs and drop them into the pot as you make them.

 Boil for 15 minutes. Sometimes they will float when they are done. Mine did, but I guess that is not always the case. Using a slotted spoon scoop them out onto your serving bowl.

Serve with Saurkraut.

 Tomorrow join us for Appfelstrudel!

Karen

Austria Day 2 Wiener Schnitzel and potato salad

Wiener schnitzel is a classic. You have most likely had it or a form of it. The real deal is made with veal scallop. I found my veal at Martin's supermarket in Granger. It was very thinly sliced and only needed a few wacks with my rolling pin. If you cannot find veal locally, you can use thinly sliced chicken breast or pork cutlet following the same instruction.

Wiener Schnitzel
Veal scallops
flour
eggs
fresh bread crumbs
oil for frying
lemon wedges for serving

Prepare your veal first. Get out your cutting board and line it with plastic wrap w enough to fold back over the veal. Next wack it with your rolling pin until nice and thin so it will cook quickly.

Prepare your oil in the pan. Get 3 bowls ready. One with flour, one with wisked eggs and one with bread crumbs 

 

Fry in hot oil on each side until golden brown.

Austrian Potato Salad

 

I learned how to make this from my Mother in law. I was not a big fan of potato salad until I had this, now it is a favorite and a common dish in our home.

 

2 pounds of potatoes boiled whole in a pot until tender and then drain water and add cold to cool them, then slip off skins.



While the potatoes are cooking chop and fry 4 slices of bacon in a pan.

 

 Dice one onion, put in bowl, when bacon is read add bacon INCLUDING the bacon grease (thats my secret ingredient, bacon makes everything good!) In a measuring cup pour 3/4 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup canola oil and 1/2 cup of water. This is a saucy potato salad. Go ahead and pour that all into the bowl and sprinkle with pepper and salt if desired.

When potatoes are ready slice them up

Add to bowl

Now yell Essen Fertig! (Dinner ready!)

Enjoy the time with your family with good food and good company. This is as good as it gets.

Thank you, until tomorrow when I show you how to make Schwiensbraten with kartoffel knudel and saurkraut.

 

 

Karen

 





Austria day 1

Guten Morgen! Good Morning!
I want to share my Fruhstuck (breakfast) with you. You can pick this up at a cafe with your morning coffee. You will find it by name of Golatsche or Kolatsche and the look of it varies. I made mine simple like a thumbprint, but it is often folded over the filling or made in a square with the corners all brought up and pinched in the center.

Kolatsche
In your bread machine put 1 cup lukewarm milk, 2.5 tsp yeast(or 1 pkt), 1/4 cup sugar and let sit 5 minutes to get the yeast going.
Then add 1 egg, 1/4 cup softened butter and 3 1/2 cups of bread flour. 1/2 tsp salt if desired. I exclude salt from all of my recipes due to low sodium diet. Turn on bread cycle and go relax with a cup of coffee. When its done it will look like this.

When that is done flour your surface and roll it out to about 1 inch thickness and then cut out with round cutter

 place on parchment lined pans and lightly brush w melted butter and leave to rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

 

Take a spoon and press a dimple into the center of each pastry.



 

Fill with Solo filling, your own jams or marmalades will work as well.
Bake at 350F for 15-18 minutes until lightly golden. Then drizzle with simple icing.
To make Simple icing pour 2 cups of confectioner sugar into a bowl and slowly add milk until the consistency you can drizzle with control.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy!



 

Tonight we are making Wiener Schnitzel and Austrian style potato salad like my husband's Mutti makes.

 

Andorra

Welcome to Andorra, a tiny country nestled in the Pyrenese mountains between Spain and France. If you were in Andorra you would hear people speaking in 3 different languages. The local being Catalan as well as Spanish and French. You would most likely be coming for a ski trip or to do what a lot of Spanish, French and British visitors do, shop til you drop. Andorra is not part of the EU and they do not have sales tax! If you have ever been to Europe you would have noticed prices are high on everything and that would be because of tax. Cigarettes and Alcohol being high on the list of things people come to buy. Its a peaceful place mostly except for a wee bit of smuggling going on in the mountains.

The traditional Andorran has a quiet more secluded lifestyle in the mountains and they use what they had and it is apparent in the meals that they cooked. There are some ingredients I would have a hard time gathering unless I set off with my rifle or lived on a farm.
Here is an example of a common dish. If I had some wild boar handy I would have gave it a shot.

Wild Boar Stew

32oz (2000gr) wild boar
1 liter red wine2 cl gin
10 allspice berries
10 peppercorns
10 juniper berries
2 crushed garlic cloves
3 bay leaves
1 tbs olive oil
4 tbs flour

Cut the boar into chunks (done during butchering). Crush allspice berries and peppercorns. Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl and marinate 4 - 24 hours.
Drain the boar, reserving marinade. Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven. Add boar and brown well on all sides. Add flour and stir. Add reserved marinade and spices to boar, stirring well.

Add:
500ml wild boar stock
4 carrots
4 parsnips
1 celeriac

Cut vegetables into large chunks and add to boar. Cover and bake in a medium oven 2 - 3 hours.

Here is what I cooked for you last night.

Brocoli Rice Gratin
1 bag frozen brocoli or 1 bunch fresh chopped
1 cup rice, prepare
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 cup shredded cheese

This is simple, cook 1 cup of rice as directed.

 



Put all other ingredients into bowl except cheese.



Mix into casserole dish when rice is ready and cover with foil. Bake 375F until bubbly, 35-40 min.

Baked Cod Provencal
1 pound cod filet in a backing dish. Drizzle cod with 2 tsp EVO and Lemon juice. Bake until flakey, 20 min 375F.



Meanwhile prepare topping for fish.
1 cup chopped tomato
12 halved olives
1/2 chopped onion
1 clove garlic minced
1 tsp Herbs d' provence
1 T EVO for pan
saute for 5 min

 

 

Pesto Stuffed Tomato

 

Vine ripened tomatoes

Homemade pesto (or store bought)

parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top

Cut your tomato in half and cut a v at the stem and core.

spoon fresh pesto into tomato and sprinkle with parmesan.

Bake 375 15-20 min until parm is slightly golden.

 

I make my own Pesto because I grow basil every summertime and its the perfect way to use up the plant at the end of the season and retain that fresh basil flavor. Mine is technically a Pisou which is french. The only difference is no nuts. My husband found out he was allergic to peanuts so I just avoid nuts as much as possible just in case. I use this in my homemade pasta sauce so it tastes summertime fresh all year. Dried basil and fresh basil have no comparison in my opinion.

 

To make fresh Pisou:

 

In your blender toss in fresh basil and sprinkle parmesan cheese, drizzle enough EVO that it will blend into a paste. I freeze mine in mini muffin tins and pop them into a freezer bag. If I am making a huge pot of pasta I use a whole one, I can cut off what I need if making smaller amounts. I used one to make my stuffed tomatoes. Michael said these were his favorite. I will definately be making this again when I can use my homegrown heirlooms.

 

 

My son Brandon is coming home this weekend and he said "Mom, are you making weiner schnitzel for Austria?" so I will doing Austria before Armenia so he can be here for one his favorite meals. I love cooking for my family, bringing good food to the table and having my family together. What could be better?

Austria is the most special place in this journey of cooking and I plan to make multiple posts as I cook my way through it. I couldn't dream of making this a one meal stop. There is so much I want to share with you, so stay tuned for a very special week as I take you to my husbands hometown Vienna, Austria.

 

Thank you,

 

Karen







Recipe sources: Cookeatshare.com

Albania

Welcome back! I have had so much fun in the kitchen this week. Looking for recipes and planning my menu for a great authentic Albanian meal. My husband gave his complete support last night at dinner, he just loved it. Albania is in the Balkan region so you will notice similarities to Greek food.
The funnest thing I made this week was Albanian style yogurt. There is nothing fancy about it, it is just like the yogurt we have here. I just can't believe how easy it is to make your own yogurt. I will never buy it again!

Albanian Yogurt
1 qt milk
2 tsp yogurt
1 qt jar
1 bath towel
kitchen thermometer
Pour milk into pan and cook to 185 F, do not boil. Turn off stove and let cool to 110 and add 2 tsp yogurt, stir and then pour into 1 qt jar, screw on lid and wrap in towel and leave on your counter for 5-6 hrs, then refridgerate. Done!

Albanian Yogurt Sauce
1/2 qt yogurt
1 cucumber shredded
2 cloves garlic minced
drizzle of olive oil
Mix yogurt, garlic and oil into the shredded cucumber and then refridgerate.

Qofte te ferguara (fried meatballs)
1 lb lean ground beef (lamb or chicken can be used)
1 small chopped onion
pinch of dried mint
1 piece of bread torn up
2 T chopped feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup flour
oil for frying
In a bowl mix beef, onion, mint, bread, feta, salt and pepper and form into small meatballs, roll in flour and fry in oil until done.

Byrek (spinach pie)
1/2 pkg of Filo dough (freezer section of grocery store)
1 pkg frozen spinach squeezed dry
1 cup chopped feta cheese
1 small onion chopped
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
Mix spinach, feta, onion, egg and salt and pepper in bowl
Spray 9x9 casserole dish and begin lining 2 sheets of filo at a time. Brush w oil or spray between layers. When you have half of package in casserole add filling then continue layering the top. Fold edges in to seal and brush with oil again. Bake 350 for 60 min. You must let this rest at least 30 min before serving, it must settle. This is a classic dish in Albania. This is sold everywhere like a sandwich with all sorts of fillings.

Cucumber and Tomato Salad
3 tomatoes chopped
1 cucumber chopped
1 small onion sliced finely
1/2 cup kalamata olives
1/2 cup chopped feta
Mix all ingredients and then drizzle with olive oil

This meal was fresh and flavorful and way more food than my husband and I could eat alone so tonight its leftover Albanian. Thats fine by me! All of these recipes were simple. I would definately make them again. The yogurt sauce you might recognize is just like the greeks Tziaziki. We were putting that on our salad and smearing our meatballs in it. Very addicting. You could use it for veggie dip too. Its much lighter than sour cream dips.

I will see you next week as we visit Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenese mountains between Spain and France. They cook a style called Catalan.

Bon appetit!

sources:
Qofte te ferguara - gourmed.com
Tomato and Cucumber salad - healthyfood.com
Byrek - cookeatshare.com
Albanian yogurt dip - recipes.sparkpeople.com