Bologna Salad (Wurstsalat)

Do you remember that kind of food that was only available at a certain time of the year or at a certain place on earth? How you craved for it, looked forward to have it  and wished you could have it right now?
This salad was one of that for my family.
When we lived in Northern Germany we used to travel every year by car to Spain and we stopped at the Black Forest for one to get a rest and also to visit relatives. That was the only time of the year when we were able to get  this salad.  It is a typical Southern German and Swiss dish.
My husband who was born in Southern Germany taught me how to make it and funny enough I am able to get exactly the right ingredients here in the US that I could never get in Northern Germany.
You'll need a specific kind of Veal Bologna and a good original Swiss Cheese (Emmentaler) that has to be sliced very thinly and with lots of love. I serve it with Pretzel or a good rustic bread.


Southern German Bologna Salad

300 g / 10 5/8 oz Veal Bologna
110 g / 3 7/8 oz Emmentaler (Swiss Cheese)
5 T Vegetable Oil
2 - 3 T White Wine Vinegar
1/4 t Maggi Sauce
Salt, Pepper to taste

Slice the Bologna and the Cheese very thinly in matchsticks. Put in a bowl and fluff a little with your fingers.
Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix carefully and let sit for at least 30 minutes at room temperature.
Serve with rustic bread or Pretzel

What to do with Corn

The season of fresh corn is almost over but I still have to tell you about this easy and amazing recipe. Maybe you will bookmark it for next year's season. Fresh corn cobs are baked in the oven with husk and all, then stripped and roasted in a pan until golden, soft and tender. The dish is finished with grated Manchego cheese (I had only Parmesan cheese and it was still great), chile and lime juice. The combination of the lime juice, cheese and chile gave this dish and intense blast of flavor.

Roasted Corn with Manchego

Jean-Georges Vongerichten
serves 8

Ingredients

• 6 ears of sweet yellow corn, unhusked
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 jalapeño, seeded, finely diced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 lime, cut into 4 wedges
• 1 cup finely grated Manchego cheese
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced chives
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 450°. Roast unhusked corn on a baking sheet, turning occasionally, until heated through and crisp-tender, about 15 minutes. Let cool. Shuck corn and cut kernels from cobs. Discard cobs.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add corn kernels and sauté until heated through and light-golden in spots, 3-5 minutes. Add butter; stir until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Transfer corn to a large wide bowl or deep platter; sprinkle jalapeño and crushed red pepper flakes over. Squeeze lime wedges over; sprinkle with cheese, chives, and lime zest. Serve immediately.

Layered Vegetable Torte

Sorry for the picture, but this is all that was left when I brought this dish to our monthly Potluck. Perfect to prepare in advance, a little bit messy to cut, but absolutely tasty. This torte comes in handy if you have to serve a crowd or need a vegetable side dish for a BBQ. It can be served at room temperature or warmed up in the oven. You can take whatever vegetable you like and I think it would also be great with some feta or goat cheese or on crusty bread. The choice is yours.

Layered Vegetable Torte

(From Mark Bittman)

• 1 large eggplant, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 4 medium zucchini or yellow squash, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 2 portobello mushrooms, cut into
• ¼-inch slices
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, or more as needed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 plum tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• ¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
• ½ cup bread crumbs, preferably fresh.
• 
  

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put a grill pan over medium-high heat, or prepare a grill; the heat should be medium-high, and the rack about 4 inches from flame. Brush eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms lightly with half the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; if roasting, grease 2 baking sheets with oil. Roast or grill vegetables on both sides until soft (10 - 20 minutes).

2. Coat bottom and sides of 8-inch springform pan with oil. Layer a third of the eggplant slices into bottom of the pan, then layer in half the zucchini, mushrooms, tomato, garlic and basil, sprinkling each layer with a bit of salt and pepper. Repeat layers until all vegetable are used. Press the top with a spatula or spoon to make the torte as compact as possible. Sprinkle top with Parmesan and bread crumbs, and drizzle with about 1 tablespoon oil.

3. Bake torte in oven until hot throughout and browned on top, about 30 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before removing outer ring of pan, then let cool for another 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Austrian Potato Salad

Back in Germany, I used to buy my potatoes every week at the Farmers Market. There are dozens of varieties and there was one special farmer who loved his potatoes so much - I swear he loved them as if they were real people. Whenever I told him what I wanted to make that day he would pick the right kind of potato for that dish and it always turned out beautifully.
When I tried to make potato salad here in the US, it never turned out as good as it did at home. Sometimes the salad was too mushy or sometimes the potatoes were too hard. My husband told me that I was unable to make a decent potato salad so I told him that it wasn't mine but actually the potato's fault, he just gave me a funny look.

However, I recently found this recipe from Cooks Illustrated. The potatoes are cooked not only in water, but also in a little vinegar. This alters the cooking process by expanding the window of time during which the spuds go from properly cooked to mushy and broken. Finally! Thank you Cooks Illustrated, you saved my marriage.

Austrian Potato Salad 

(From Cook's Illustrated)

serves 4

The finished salad should be creamy and loose, with chunks of potato that keep their shape but are very tender. If you can’t find cornichons, chopped kosher dill pickles can be used in their place. To maintain its consistency, don’t refrigerate the salad; it should be served within 4 hours of preparation.

INGREDIENTS

2	pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (about 4 large), peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1	cup low-sodium chicken broth
1	cup water
	Table salt
1	tablespoon sugar
2	tablespoons white wine vinegar
1	tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4	cup vegetable oil
1	small red onion , chopped fine (about 3/4 cup)
6	cornichons , minced (about 2 tablespoons) (see note)
2	tablespoons minced fresh chives
	Ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. Bring potatoes, broth, water, 1 teaspoon salt, sugar, and 1 tablespoon vinegar to boil in 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until potatoes offer no resistance when pierced with paring knife, 15 to 17 minutes. Remove cover, increase heat to high (so cooking liquid will reduce), and cook 2 minutes.
2. 2. Drain potatoes in colander set over large bowl, reserving cooking liquid. Set drained potatoes aside. Pour off and discard all but ½ cup cooking liquid (if ½ cup liquid does not remain, add water to make ½ cup). Whisk remaining tablespoon vinegar, mustard, and oil into cooking liquid.
3. 3. Add ½ cup cooked potatoes to bowl with cooking liquid mixture and mash with potato masher or fork until thick sauce forms (mixture will be slightly chunky). Add remaining potatoes, onion, cornichons, and chives, folding gently with rubber spatula to combine. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Coronation Chicken

Coronation chicken is a dish that was prepared for the banquet of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It is a combination of precooked cold chicken meat, herbs and spices and a creamy mayonnaise-based sauce. Over the time it has become a great British classic. It can be eaten as a salad or used to make sandwiches. The original dish it is flavored with curry powder because fresh curry spices were almost unobtainable in post-war Britain. This version from Gordon Ramsay uses Mango Chutney, Garam Masala and fresh Mango. A friend recently brought it to a Potluck and everybody loved it, thank you Beth, for passing on the recipe. 

If you read my last post, this chicken goes great with the flat bread and makes a great snack during the day or is a great addition to a healthy dinner.

Coronation Chicken

(adapted from Gordon Ramsay)

• Ingredients
• 4 free-range chicken breasts, with skin on
• 500ml chicken stock
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
• 125ml  crème fraîche
• 100ml mayonnaise
• 1-2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 tablespoon mango chutney
• Flesh of 1 fresh mango, finely diced
• Freshly ground salt and pepper
• Flat-leaf parsley, to garnish
• Walnuts, to serve
• Note:
• I added the juice of 1/2 lime and 1 teaspoon of a mild Curry Powder

Remove any excess fat or sinew from the chicken breasts. Bring the stock to the boil, add thyme, bay leaf and coriander seeds and then poach for 5 minutes. Lift the breasts from the stock and allow to cool. The stock can be reserved for another use.

Mix the crème fraîche, mayonnaise and garam masala. Add the chutney and mango and season well. The dressing needs to have a subtle kick without becoming overpowering.

Skin chicken breasts and cut into bite- size pieces. Add to dressing, cover and chill in fridge for 2-3 hours or overnight. Garnish with flat- leaf parsley and walnuts before serving

Spicy Peaches

The first time I was invited to spend Christmas with my husband's family we had a great dinner with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, salad, etc. But when it came to dessert, my mother in law served canned peaches.
I found that rather weird because it didn't really fit with the rest of the festive home cooked meal.
Fortunately my husband never insisted on keeping this tradition when we started to make our own Christmas dinner.
However I recently stumbled over this recipe of spiced peaches, also out of a can, from Nigella Lawson. It immediately reminded me of the first Christmas with my husband's family and I thought that it would be a rather nice addition to our usual  Christmas dinner. Instead of serving the peaches straight out of the can they are spiced and a wonderful smell of ginger, chili and clove went through the kitchen while I was preparing these peaches. I have only tasted a small spoon of the syrup of the dish but that little taste was already very promising....

Spiced peaches

  (From Nigella Lawson)

This is a beautiful condiment to eat with roast ham, hot or cold, and I love it with cheese, too. It makes the kitchen feel like a proper Christmas kitchen - and it's a very easy present to whip up for people too, beautiful in old-fashioned glass jars.

Ingredients

• 2 x 400g/14oz cans peach halves in syrup (not juice)
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 2 short sticks cinnamon
• 4cm/1½in piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thinly into rounds
• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
• ½ tsp sea salt/kosher salt, or ¼ tsp table salt
• ¼ tsp whole black peppercorns
• 3 cloves

Preparation method

1. Empty the cans of peaches with their syrup into a saucepan.
2. Add the vinegar, cinnamon, sliced ginger, chilli flakes, salt, peppercorns and cloves.
3. Bring to the boil and let it bubble for a minute or so, then turn off the heat and leave in the pan to keep warm.
4. Serve the peaches with a hot ham, letting people take a peach half each and some of the spiced juice. Any leftover spiced peaches can be stored in an airtight jar and eaten cold with cold ham.

Asian Inspired Turkey Salad

When I saw Jamie Oliver prepare this salad on his Christmas TV show I knew that I had to try it. Crispy pieces of meat slowly caramelizing in the pan drizzled with honey and sprinkled with chinese spices
caught my eye. I couldn't wait until I had some leftover turkey so I went to the store and bought 2 turkey legs. I  roasted them in the oven for almost 1 hour in order to prepare this lovely salad. I also added some left over chicken that I had sitting in my fridge. The smell of the caramelizing meat spiced with five spice powder and honey was incredible. The juice of the citrus fruits and Ginger added a perfect dressing to this salad. Crunchy pomegranate seeds sprinkled over the dish completed the look of the salad. A perfect pretty and tasty holiday dish. Even my son's plate was empty, although he added some shaved parmesan - but he shaves parmesan over everything no matter what it is.

• Asian Inspired Turkey Salad:
• (Jamie Oliver)
• serves 2 as a main dish, or 4 as an appetizer
• 
  
• • 2 large handfuls of brown turkey meat
• • 1 large handful of cashew nuts
• • 1 handful of dried cranberries
• • 2 teaspoons ground five-spice
• • a bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked (I left this out)
• • a bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked (I used parsley instead, since that is what I had)
• • 4 large handfuls of mixed salad leaves such as chicory, rocket, spinach, watercress (a mixture)
• • 1 tablespoon runny honey
• • 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (I used chilli powder)
• for the dressing
• • juice of 1 clementine
• • juice of 1 lime
• • 1 pomegranate, halved
• • ½ red onion, peeled and coarsely grated
• • extra virgin olive oil
• • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• • a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely grated

Shred the brown turkey meat into thin strips using your fingers and put it into a dry pan on a medium heat. Add the cashew nuts, dried cranberries and five-spice. Give it all a good stir then let it toast away while you get on with your salad. Give the pan a shake every now and then to make sure nothing catches. Add the mint and most of your coriander leaves to a bowl with your mixed salad leaves. Make your dressing in a separate bowl by mixing the juice from your clementine and lime. Squeeze the juice from one of your pomegranate halves through your hands to catch any seeds then discard them. Stir in your grated onion. I tend to use 3 parts oil to 1 part acid when I’m making dressings, so look at what you’ve got in the bowl so far then pour in 3 times as much extra virgin olive oil. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil. Squeeze in all the juice from your grated ginger then throw away the pulp.Give this lovely dressing a really good stir, and have a taste. If you want more salt, add a splash more soy. If you want more acid, add another squeeze of lime juice. Drizzle over enough dressing to coat the salad leaves then use your hands to toss and dress them. Add the honey to the pan with the turkey meat and stir through until coated. Turn the heat up to full whack for the last few seconds to really crisp up the meat mixture. At this point, make sure your guests are all at the table and ready to eat so you can serve the salad as soon as the hot meat hits the salad leaves. Toss half of your pan-fried ingredients through the salad leaves and transfer to a serving platter. Spoon the remaining nuts, cranberries and crispy meat over the top of the salad and add another drizzle of dressing. Hold the remaining pomegranate half over the salad and knock it on the back with a spoon so the seeds pop onto the salad. Garnish with a nice sprinkling of fresh red chilli, any remaining coriander leaves and serve right away.

Potato Roesti

This is one of our all time family favorites. I don't even look for other recipes anymore. These Roesti are crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, flavored with Rosemary and Garlic - absolutely perfect. They are finished in the oven which saves you space on the stove and lets you clean up early. We had sauteed chanterelle mushrooms and a little green salad with them but you can serve them with a piece of meat or fish too.

Potato Roesti
(cook with Jamie)
serves 4

olive oil
a small knob of butter
600 g/1lb 6oz floury potatoes, peeled and cut into matchsticks
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
6 cloves of garlic, peeled

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F. In an ovenproof non-stick frying pan, about 22cm/8 inches wide, heat a splash of olive oil. Add the butter and toss the potatoes in it with a pinch of salt and pepper, the rosemary leaves an the whole garlic cloves.

Fry on a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring all the while, until the potatoes start to soften a little.
Then place the pan in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are lightly golden, both on top and the bottom.

Take the pan out of the oven and cover it with a piece of damp greaseproof paper. Wrap your hand in a tea towel, or use a perfectly sized plate, and press down on the paper to flatten and compact your roesti.

Remove the greaseproof paper and place the pan back in the oven for 25 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.