Potato Salad

For a summer barbeque we gave this potato salad a try.

First we cut up a  2lb medley of colorful small new potatoes into small bite size chunks. We placed them into a pot, covered them with water, added about half a tablespoon of salt, and brought them to a boil. After about 10 minutes of simmering we checked on the potatoes. We tried to get them out just as they turned soft and before they got mushy.

Then we sliced up and fried 10 strips of bacon. We placed both the taters and the bacon into the freezer right away to cool them down. We also tossed about half a tablespoon worth of mustard seeds into the bacon grease and placed a lid over them. We removed them right after a few moments as they started to pop like corn kernels.

When everything had cooled down, we used our hands to mix together the potatoes, the bacon, the mustard seeds, a few sliced scallions, and some white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste.

There you have it. Gorgeous!

To round out the affair we prepared and grilled up a few shish kebabs, ...

sausages and hot dogs.

Bean Stew

They literally call this a "single pot" in Germany. A "Eintopf". Check out how easy something like this goes. You'll have to trust us on the deliciousness. It took about 45 minutes. Most of it was watching something simmer.

The first into the pot were 6 slices of bacon, chopped up, with a dash of olive oil. When we got it to be nice and crunchy we removed it and drained the grease. 

In the meantime we had sliced 1/2 a big onion, 2 cloves of garlic, and the stalks of a handful of basil leaves. They were next with a little more oil. We used the opportunity and loosened the bacon bits at the bottom of the pot. We gave this a good eight minutes.

Then we added 4 chopped vine tomatoes and 2 cans canellini beans, rinsed and drained. Then we added 2 cups of water, brought it to a boil and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

We fished out some lose tomatoe skins and added 4 more tomatoes; these being quartered. We gave it all another 15 minutes.

Last but not least we added the basil leaves, a handful of freshly greates Parmesan, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar.

To serve everybody got to sprinkle the crunchy bacon and more Parmesan over the stew, as well as a little olive oil. We also had a loaf of crunchy ciabatta at the ready. 

Oooooooooh yes. Good healthy bean stew by the spoonful. 

Beans and Mashers

This turned out to be quite a lovely dish for a warm spring day in the Carolinas. We got two pots of water going and prepared a whole bunch of potatoes to boil in one of them; for mashed potatoes. Basically we cooked taters and mashed them up. (Here, though is the more extensive how-to-do including cream, butter, salt , and nutmeg).

Then we concentrated on the beans. We washed about 600g of green beans, cut the ends off and halved them.

Then we boiled them in the hot water for just about three minutes before we drained them.

Then we cut up 8 strips of bacon and fried them up all nice and crunchy.

In the meantime we drained 1 can of cannellini beans and diced up half a big onion and a handful of parsley,

We added a pat of butter to the bacon and

the onion and let it all melt for another three minutes.

Then we added the beans to warm them up and added a bit of salt and pepper.

That was it. Nice and easy. All this goodness was finally served with the parsley. It all in all took just 30 minutes.

Yup - Sauerkraut

Okay. So just to verify that yes, indeed, we come with German heritage to the stove, here now a dish with sauerkraut. And good and tasty it was.

We began this affair with starting a pot of water to boil 1 pound of ziti pasta and cutting up 6 slices of bacon.

We fried up the bacon nice and golden in some olive oil.

Meanwhile we halved one huge onion and sliced it into quarter strips.

We also drained 500 g of store bought sauerkraut.

The onions we added to the bacon and

fried them for another couple of minutes.

When it was all browned we removed it from the pan for later.

With some extra olive oil we fried up the sauerkraut for a few minutes

and then added a pat of butter and 1 tablespoon of sugar and got the sauerkraut browned a bit.

Lastly we added the bacon and onions back in, 100 ml of veggie broth, 200 ml of cream, and brought it all to a boil.

Then we made a mad dash outside to get a bit of parsley from our small garden. 

Just in time to drain the pasta. We added the sauerkraut sauce to the pasta, salt, pepper, and some of the cooking water we had reserved. To serve we added the parsley and caraway seeds. Those caraway seeds added just the perfect touch.

It was absolutely delicious The original recipe for this one we found in a cookbook from the German master Tim Mälzer. Guten Appetit!

Pear and Blue Cheese Carbonara

What a fun little dish. It took just as long to prepare as to boil the pasta and turned out to be quite a looker; and quite tasty.

After we got a pot of water for a pound of fettuccine going, we separated 5 egg yolks into a big bowl. (Here is by the way a link to our ideas about cooking pasta.)

We mixed them up with  3 tablespoons of creme fraiche and some salt and pepper.

Then we got out our blue cheese. The recipe called for a Stilton, but we happened to come across a quite mild one, called Himmel Bla at Trader Joe's, which turned out a good choice.

We crumbled 150g of the blue cheese into the sauce.

Then we diced up leaves of 3 sticks of rosemary, 2 cloves of garlic, and 8 slices of bacon. Then we quartered, cored, and slice up 2 pears.

We first fried up the bacon in a pat of butter and little olive oil till it was nice an crispy. Then we added the herbs and fruit for just a couple of minutes.

We also washed a handful of rocket lettuce and squeezed the juice of 1 lemon.

The timing had to be just right. As soon as the pasta was just perfectly al dente we drained it, retained some of the coking water, and mixed them with the sauce, bacon, herbs and fruit, as well as the lemon juice. We quickly added some of the water to it all to make it all silky; before turning into scrambled eggs.

We served it with the rocket lettuce. Doesn't it look darling? The pears and lemon juice gave the carbonara an expert sweetness. All thumbs up.

(We got the idea for this out of a dogeared Jamie Oliver magazine, translated into German.)

Leek and Gnocchi

A pot of water we got going to boil 1 lb of gnocchi for just a few minutes, based on the cooking instructions.

Next we cut up 6 sticks of leek. First lengthwise, carefully washing all dirt off in between the leaves, and then chopping off the roots and hardy dark green ends.

Then we sliced it all up into a pile of various shades of green.

In a little olive oil we tossed a few slices of chopped up bacon to get them nice and crisp.

2 table spoons of coarse mustard.

The Leek for but a minute or two.

1 cup of creme fraiche. And then the darling gnocchi with a little of the cooking water to keep it all loose and runny.

Bam! For the adventures type we offered shredded parmesan.

Roasted Pork Chops and Taters

We turned the oven to 450F, peeled and cut up 3lb of yellow potatoes,

got them in a pot of water, brought them to a boil, and cooked them with a little salt for 3 minutes.

In the meantime we whizzed up in a food processor a small handful of sage leaves, 4 dried apricots, 4 tbls butter, 4 slices of prosciutto, 1 clove of garlic, salt, and pepper.

Then we carefully sliced pockets into 6 pork chops

and filled them with the herb butter.

Just about them the potatoes where ready and we placed them on a roasting pan with more sage, 6 slices of bacon, all chopped up, and a drizzle of olive oil. then we shoved them in the oven for twenty minutes.

This gave us plenty of time to garnish the chops with 12 leaves of sage, two each.

Lily slathered them in olive oil and dusted their underside in flour.

Just so they would stick and taste good.

We fried them up for ten minutes before we placed them on the spuds and roasted the whole mess for another 15 minutes.

While we waited we cleaned up, set the table, and chopped up a quick salad. (For a couple ideas check out our lazy quick chopped salad.)

There you go. It came out picture perfect for a hungry crowd.

We found the recipe for this goodness in Jamie Oliver's cookbook Jamie's Italy . He called it of course "costolette di maiale con salvia". And salivating one does, when you put it like that.