On the Menu: Kaesespaetzle

There's nothing more comforting than macaroni and cheese, right?

What about macaroni and cheese made with swiss, caramelized onions, and egg noodles?

I'd call that pure decadence.

Although there's a bit of prep work involved, this is one of the simplest dishes I've prepared and (bonus!) only requires four ingredients: butter, cheese, spaetzle, and onions. The key, I think, is caramelizing the onions.

Kaesespaetzel
Serves 4-6

1 1/2 cups dried spaetzel
1/2 lb Swiss cheese (Emmental is another good choice), grated
2 onions, sliced thin
2 tbs unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Cook spaetzel according to package directions. Drain.
2. Melt butter in a large saucepan and saute onions. Cook until nicely browned, about 15 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8" casserole dish.
4. Pour half of the spaetzel into the casserole dish. Put half the onions on top of the spaetzel. Put half of the cheese on the onions. Repeat layers with the rest of the ingredients.
5. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until bottom is bubbly. Serve hot.

On the Menu: German Baked Beans

This experiment has already been interesting and it's been great to see the kids trying new foods and learning about various countries.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure how "German" these baked beans are - would a German from Germany actually recognize it as local cuisine? - but considering they were the only bean dish we could find, I was willing to bend.

These beans have two staples in German food: sauerkraut and apples. Not in a million years would I have thought to put sauerkraut in baked beans, but they offer a surprisingly nice tang to the dish. And the apples, of course, give it an excellent sweetness almost reminiscent of a dessert.

To make this dish, I modified a favorite baked beans recipe. I may make this dish again and tweak it because it was a tad too sweet. If you are worried about the dish being too sweet, decrease the amount of molasses, increase the amount of water, and use unsweetened applesauce.

German Baked Beans 
Adapted from: The Bacon Cookbook by James Villas
Makes 6 main dish servings or 8-10 side dish servings

2 cups dried beans (navy or small white beans work best)
1/2 onion
2 whole cloves
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 lb bacon, chopped
1 tbs salt
1 tbs rum
1 tsp dried mustard
1 16 oz jar sauerkraut, well drained
3/4 cup molasses (can be reduced to 1/2 cup)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1. Soak beans in water for about 8 hours.
2. Pierce onion half with the cloves. Put into the pot with the beans and the baking soda. Bring to a boil. Cook for 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
4. Drain beans into a 3-4 quart casserole dish, reserving 2-3 cups of the bean water. Add bacon, salt, rum, dried mustard, sauerkraut, molasses, applesauce, and 2 cups of bean water. Mix well.
5. Cover and put in oven. Bake for about 3-4 hours, checking every couple of hours to add water as needed.

Germany Week: The Menu

I grew up in Barrow, Alaska. It's the furthest north city in the United States - way out in Bush Alaska. Normal was being one of the only white kids in school. Normal was 24-hour nights in the winter and 24-hour days in the summer. Normal was trying maktaq and eating Eskimo doughnuts.

Culturally, I am an American. My ancestry, however, is primarily German. Most of my family on both my mom and dad's side emigrated from various parts of Germany, all before the 1900's. My dad's family settled in rural Wisconsin, where there was a tremendous German enclave. In fact, most people still spoke German as their primary language up until World War I.

I love visiting the area around my grandmother's farm. There's a delightful cheese factory in Theresa (Widmer's) and a butcher shop in Brownsville that sells the most amazing brats (Hoff's). The last time I was there, I spent over $50 in cheese and meat (enough said!).

Cheese, meat, onions, cabbage, and apples are a mainstay of the traditional German diet, although there is a significant Turkish population in Germany as well, which explains why kebabs have become very popular in Germany.

This week we will be eating:

German Baked Beans

Kaesespaetzle
Saurbraten

German Apple Cake

Alternative Menu Ideas:

Brats

Pickled fish

Liver sausage

Open sandwiches

On the Menu: Nanaimo Bars

As you can see, the pan is empty.

It's empty because these are delicious. They are addicting.

I first had a Nanaimo Bar (charmingly named after the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia) on the shores of Lake Bennett. One of my sisters, two friends, and I had just finished hiking the Chilkoot Trail and a group of Canadians we had befriended on the trail offered us some of their dessert.

"It's famous!" they exclaimed. "They're amazing!" they promised.

Decadently layered with chocolate, coconut, custard; indeed, they were.

Nanaimo Bars (original recipe here)
Serves 12

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 tbs. cocoa powder
1 egg, beaten
1 1/4 cups crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup unsweetened coconut
2 tbs + 2 tsp heavy cream
2 tbs vanilla pudding powder
2 cups powdered sugar
8 squares (8 oz) semi-sweet chocolate

1. Melt 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup sugar, and 5 tbs cocoa in a double broiler. Add egg and cook slightly to thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and almond meal. Press firmly into an ungreased 8x8" pan.
2. Cream 1/2 cup butter, cream, pudding powder, and powdered sugar. Beat until light. Spread over the bottom layer.
3. Completely melt 1/4 cup butter and 8 oz chocolate over low heat in a double boiler. Cool. Once cool, but still liquid, pour over the second layer and chill in the refrigerator to set.
4. To serve, remove from refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for about 2 hours.*

*These can be eaten right from the refrigerator, but they are much, much better when they have warmed up a bit. The custard layer becomes stiff when the bars are cold. At room temperature, the custard filling is silky and smooth.

On the Menu: Rappie Pie

"How come Canadian food looks so grey?" Robinson complained.

It's a valid complaint: the poutine looked grey because of the gravy and the Rappie Pie was grey because of the potatoes. Grey food does look rather unappetizing, doesn't it?

A word of advice: this dish is in some serious need of some spices. Salt and pepper, mostly, but you couldn't go wrong with a pick-me-up from a little thyme, savory, or marjoram.

So far, this has been my least favorite meal, but by no fault of it's own. Apparently, after the Acadian Expulsion had been lifted and native groups returned to southeastern Canada, their traditional lands had been given to immigrants. The remaining land was good for growing potatoes and the Acadians added meat to these potatoes to create this dish.

The potatoes are soaked in water and squeezed dry as much as possible before being mixed with chicken broth. The chicken is sandwiched between the potatoes and is then baked. It's a simple recipe, but a lot of work, with not such great results. I'd be curious to go to Nova Scotia someday to see if their Rappie Pie is any better.

Rappie Pie (original recipe here)
Serves 6

3 lbs chicken, cooked and shredded
2-3 cups chicken broth (homemade or canned)
5 large potatoes
5 tbs butter, divided
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Fill a large bowl or pot with water. Peel potatoes, putting the peeled ones into the bowl of water to prevent them from turning black.
2. Grate potatoes into a large bowl of water. When all of the potatoes have been grated, squeeze out as much water as possible. Place in another large bowl.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease an 8x8 casserole dish with 2 tbs butter. Place half of the potatoes on the bottom of the dish. Generously season with salt and pepper.
4. Top potatoes with chicken. Top chicken with the rest of the potatoes. Generously sprinkle with more salt and pepper.
5. Pour 2-3 cups of chicken broth on top of the casserole and dot with the remaining butter. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours.

On the Menu: Soupe aux pois with Bannock

My father is a fairly predictable person. When I was a girl, Dad always made turkey tetrazzini after Thanksgiving and he always made split pea soup after Easter. Needless to say, my capacity for casseroles and pea soups is almost full. I don't make either one often.

However, I can say with some confidence that I will be making Soupe aux Pois again. It is, basically, split pea soup, but made with yellow peas instead of green. The yellow peas impart a more mild, sweet flavor than traditional green. I may never use green peas in soups again!

Bannock is an indigenous bread, similar to the Eskimo doughnuts (Inupiat) or Navaho fry bread. Every once in a while, we would get Eskimo doughnuts for hot lunch at school. They were my favorite. I've been looking for a fry bread recipe for some time now, but have not been very successful. The first recipe I used produced a very dense, tasteless bread so I tweaked the recipe. The result was something more palatable, but I'm still not completely satisfied with the texture. Perhaps one of these days I'll go back and fiddle with the recipe some more.

Soupe aux Pois (original recipe here)
Serves 8

1/4 lb boneless ham, finely chopped
1/4 lb salt pork, finely chopped (bacon is a good substitute)
2 tbs butter
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups dried yellow split peas
1 tsp savory
salt and pepper, to taste

1. In a large Dutch oven, melt butter. Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft.
2. Stir in split peas, ham, salt pork, and savory. Cook for about 2 minutes.
3. Add 6 cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 2 hours, or until everything is soft and the peas have begun to fall apart.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.


Bannock
Makes about 10 fry breads

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbs baking powder
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbs oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
4 cups oil (for frying)

1. Heat oil to about 350 degrees.
2. Mix all of the dry ingredients together.
3. Add the wet ingredients; mix well. Knead a few times on a floured surface. Dough will be sticky.
4. Form a golf-ball sized piece of dough into a ball, then flatten so that it is thinner in the middle and thicker along the edges. Place in hot oil and fry until nicely browned on one side. Flip over to cook on the other side. Repeat with remaining dough. Serve warm.

On the Menu: Poutine

I'm going to let you in on a secret.

Poutine sounds really, really bizarre, but in actuality it is amazing.

Really, really amazing.

Poutine is originally from Quebec (thus the French-sounding name), but when I traveled though the Northwest Territories on my way to the Chilkoot Trail, it was on the menu at almost every little restaurant we stopped. It truly is a Canadian dish.

Given the number of times I've been through Canada, it's surprising I've never had poutine before. But it's such a simple combination; just french fries smothered with cheese curds and gravy; that I decided to have a go and make up my own recipe.

It was divine.

I'd even consider adding sausage to the gravy or eating it for breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner. Anytime, really. It's that good.

Poutine
Serves 4

2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
2 cups milk
1/4 lb cheese curds (cut small)
1 10 oz bag french fries (we used thin and crispy but any kind will do)
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Prepare french fries according to package directions.
2. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Once completely melted, mix in flour to make a roux.
3. Add milk a little at a time, whisking well after each addition. The gravy should be smooth, not lumpy. Continue to add a little bit of milk to the gravy until the milk is gone. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Once the fries are done, sprinkle liberally with cheese curds, then top with gravy. Eat immediately.