leberknoedel (liver dumpling soup)

something to make with your stale bread!!

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4 chopped, stale hard rolls
200ml warm milk
1 onion, finely chopped
150g liver, minced
a little scraped spleen (optional, acts as a thickener)
2 tbsp marjoram, chopped
1 egg
115ml milk
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
freshly-grated nutmeg, to taste
1 small bunch or parsley, chopped
2 tsp freshly-grated lemon zest
a little butter for frying
600ml clear beef stock

Roughly tear the rolls and soak in the lukewarm milk. In the meantime, melt the butter in a pan and use to fry the onion and parsley for about 4 minutes, until soft. Drain the rolls and wring dry then add to a bowl and mix in the onions. Combine with a fork until you have a firm mass (if the mixture is too loose add a some fresh breadcrumbs, if too firm add a little of the soaking milk. Stir in all remaining ingredients (again, add more breadcrumbs if too loose). Take small amonuts of the mixture and shape into dumplings. Meanwhile, bring a pan of water just to boiling point. Add the dumplings and simmer for about 25 minutes, until cooked through. Transfer the beef stock, bring to a simmer then ladle into soup bowls and serve.

from celtnet

the best chili recipe EVER.

this one is cincinnati-style. if you’ve never tried making chili like this before, you’re missing out. it’s vegan. it’s hearty. it’s filling. it’s healthy. and it’s jam-packed with flavor. this one’s a crowd-pleaser, and really easy, too. basically, you just boil things. did i mention that it’s really, really cheap to make?

this recipe is a combination of my trial and error and suggestions from kathy, who went to school in ohio.

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beans:
i like a combination. mostly red kidney with a few other kinds thrown in as well. try anything. black-eyed peas are always a favorite. white beans and black lentils are another favorite. but anything works.

quick-soak them.
(that just means: boil lidded for about a minute in tons of water, leave the lid on, and soak for an hour.)

drain. in same pot, fry onions in a heavy fat (coconut oil or leftover meat grease are both great).

add fresh water and beans, and begin boiling again.

add a can of whole tomatoes, or a mess of fresh tomatoes.
add a bay leaf.
add a bunch of fresh garlic.

season with tons of:
paprika
cumin
coriander
garlic or garlic powder
molasses
powdered unsweetened cocoa
red wine, red wine vinegar, or a red cooking wine (apple cider vinegar’s good, too)

a few pinches of:
oregano
allspice
cinnamon
cayenne

and just a pinch of:
clove
nutmeg
mace

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serve on spaghetti with cheese on top if you like it cincinnati-style. or do it healthy: top it with plain yogurt and have it with a salad.

other variations?
sometimes i throw in a few scoops of leftover cooked veggies, or any number of other partially-roasted veggies. roasted peppers, of course, are great, but be creative! zucchini, eggplant, green beans, cauliflower: anything works in chili!
if you have anything roasty or smoky, like roasted garlic, roasted hot peppers, smoked sea salt or smoked pepper, roasted coriander, or bits of smoked meats or fish, throw those in! the smoky flavor works perfectly with beans.
meat-eaters can cut up bits of pork belly to fry with the onion in the beginning. ground meat, of course, is traditional, but i tend to avoid it in chili. why add meat? it’s delicious just like it is!

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chili is not scary! if you’ve never made it, do it now, before it gets too hot outside!

groundnut stew

fry garlic in oil

add:
cinnamon
cumin
salt
pepper
ginger
clove
nutmeg (pinch)
a bay leaf
dried hot peppers (or minced fresh ones)

black-eyed peas
winter squash like pumpkin, butternut, or acorn
stock, or bouillon and water

cook until stew-y

add:
a nut butter like peanut or almond

gamjatang

this korean neckbone soup is fantastic!

Directions:

1. Soak 2.5 lb (about 1 kg) of pork neck bones in cold water for 2 hours.
porkbones
2. Boil water in a large pot.
3. Put ¼ of a medium sized napa cabbage (about 2-3 cups) into the boiling water and blanch it for a minute.
4. Rinse and drain the cabbage and put it in a bowl.
5. Tear each leaf lengthwise once or twice to make it bite size and set it aside.
6. Rinse pork neck bones in cold water and put them in boiling water with 4-5 slices of ginger (1 tbs). Cook for 7 minutes.
7. Rinse and strain the pork neck bones and put them in a large pot.
*tip: when you rinse the pork bones, pick out any excessive fat
8. Pour 10 cups of water into the pot.
9. Add 1 medium size sliced onion, 1 tbs of sliced ginger, 2 tbs of soy bean paste, 1 dried red chili pepper (after removing the seeds), and 2 dried shiitake mushrooms to the pot. Boil it for 1. 5 hours over medium high heat.
10. Prepare a small bowl to make the sauce! In the bowl, put 6-8 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tbs of hot pepper flakes, 1 tbs of hot pepper paste, 3 tbs of cooking wine, 3 tbs of fish sauce, 3 tbs of perilla seeds powder (deulkkae garu) and mix it all up.
11. Prepare a large bowl for vegetables
vegetables1
* Squeeze the cooked cabbage slightly to drain some of the water, and put it into the bowl.
* Cut about 10 perilla leaves into bite sized pieces and put them into the bowl.
perilla-leaves
* Cut 2 stalks of green onion and Asian chives (2-3 cups worth) into 7 cm long pieces and put them into the bowl.
* Rinse and drain 2 cups of soy bean sprouts and put them into the bowl.
* Peel 3 small potatoes and put them into the bowl.
Now you made the sauce and prepared all the vegetables. All you can do is to wait until the pork neck bone soup is finished cooking.
12. About 1 ½ hours later, take the red hot chilli pepper and shiitake mushrooms out of the pot.
13. Slice shiitake mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
14. Add your vegetables and your sauce and the chopped shiitake mushrooms into the soup. Cook for another 30 minutes.

(thanks maangchi!)

i didn’t like the chewiness of the meat, but it was worth it for a homemade beef stock that was so flavorful for so few ingredients! the sesame, garlic, and fish sauce are absolutely necessary. i subbed fresh mushrooms for the dry and skipped the perilla leaves, but followed pretty closely besides. lots of bang for your buck here (literally; cabbage and bean sprouts are as cheap as it gets!)

spinach-sauerkraut soup

soup in under a half-hour with no prep? i’m down.

spinach-sauerkraut soup

250 g fresh or frozen spinach
300 g mild Sauerkraut
500ml stock
1 bunch parsley
300 ml heavy cream
salt, pepper
1 pinch sugar
100 g creme fraiche (ed: we used homemade yogurt)
(ed: a handful of beans, peas, or lentils)

1. Wash and remove stems and roots of fresh spinach – defrost frozen spinach and let it drain in a sieve so all water is gone.
2. Chop Sauerkraut; wash parsley and chop it.
3. Puree Sauerkraut, spinach and parsley with a hand mixer or in a blender; add it into a large pot and fill in the beef broth; let it simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add heavy cream, salt, pepper and sugar; let it steep for 5 minutes.
5. Serve the soup with a dab of creme fraiche.

Variation: Instead of using the whole amount of heavy cream, mix in about 100g grated gouda cheese.

edit 11/11: WOW. j made some quick-kraut (no prepared lacto-fermented stuff) with apple cider vinegar and salt and let it sit a few hours. not having a functional food processor, most of the prep time was just in chopping and washing greens. the sour kraut lent such an interesting element to the thing; it made the soup taste like it had been cooking all day. j and i both loved this! threw some urad dal (black lentils) in to make it a little heavier. i definitely recommend doing that. we topped it with yogurt. YUM!

lentil stew with spaetzle

lentil stew with spaetzle

250 g lentils (dry)
1 bundle soup greenery (carrot, celery, parsley root, celery root, leek)
50 g German Speck or Smoked Bacon
1 tbsp cooking oil (neutral oil)
broth or stock
200 g spaetzle
150 g sausage

1. Soak the lentils for at least 6 hours or overnight in cold water; drain and wash.
2. Fry soup greenery and speck in oil.
3. Add 1 l water and bring it to a boil; add stock and lentils and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
4. 7-8 minutes before the lentils are done, add the dried Spaetzle, and let them cook until they are soft. If spaetzle are homemade, they only need 2-3 minutes with the lentils.
4. Cut Kassler or sausages in slices or cubes and add them before the stew is done. Sprinkle parsley before serving hot with fresh bread.

I think it’s neat that there are so many Schwabisch recipes that call for lentils (although I don’t remember my grandmother ever making them.) I’ll be interested in experimenting with vegetarian Schwabisch recipes this fall.

ceviche

i think yesterday’s dinner was one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.

+ bell’s porter (which was actually better than i remembered, very well balanced and perfect with seafood,)
+ fresh-from-the-garden salad with assorted greens like purslane and lamb’s quarter,
+ balsamic-mint pasta salad with lamb’s quarter from the garden,
+ new zealand green mussels with white wine, lemon, butter, garlic, and chives, sauteed on the half-shell for about three minutes,
+ mango ceviche

here’s basically what i did…

MANGO CEVICHE

one filet of red snapper (half-pound)
a few filets of tilapia (about a pound)
a few filets of ocean perch (about a pound)
a pound of shrimp
a red and an orange pepper
five mangos (used both kinds available here – the large red and green ones, and the small yellow ‘atulfo’ kind – atulfo are typically a little sweeter and riper, and ready earlier in the season.)
a couple avocados
a serrano
a little minneola orange
half a bundle of cilantro
juice from about eleven limes
salt and pepper and no other seasoning

the best meal of 2011 by far. happy summer!

sopa de lima

rick bayless, give me a break.

the damn soup was phenomenal, but… seriously? pour the soup into warm bowls? yeah, i’m going to warm the bowls. by pouring soup into them. so glad we got that straightened out.

Sopa de Lima Clasica

Makes about 2 quarts of soup, serving 8

Recipe from Season 5 of Mexico – One Plate at a Time
Ingredients

Salt and Pepper Broth
2 medium white onions, cut in half across the middle (rather from top to bottom)
2 heads of garlic, cut in half across the middle
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
3 whole cloves
One 1 1/2-inch cinnamon stick, preferably Mexican cinnamon
1 teaspoon crumbled dried Mexican oregano
2 pounds of chicken wings (you can include backs and necks too)
2 pounds of pork bones (neck bones are most commonly available)
2 large Yucatecan limas agrias
OR 4 key limes
OR 2 grocery-store (Persian) limes
Salt
3 hot banana peppers

Finishing
Vegetable oil to a depth of 1/2-inch for frying
8 corn tortillas
1 large white onion, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
1 pound ripe tomatoes (2 medium-large round or 5 to 6 plum tomatoes), cored and chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 large green pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
1 large (1 to 1 1/4-pound) whole chicken breast (with skin and bones)
Directions

1. Prepare the “salt-and-pepper” broth. Set an 8- to 12-quart soup pot over medium to medium-low heat. Lay the onions and garlic heads, cut-side down, in the pot. Cover and roast without turning until dark brown and quite soft, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pulverize the peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon and oregano in a spice mill or mortar.

When the onion and garlic are ready, add 4 quarts of water to the pot, along with the chicken and pork. Raise the heat to high. Skim off the grayish foam that rises as the liquid comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a slow, steady simmer, then add the spices. Cut the ends off the limes and add the ends to the pot, along with 1 teaspoon salt. Slice the limes about 1/4-inch thick and set aside for serving.

Roast the banana peppers over an open flame or close up under a preheated broiler until blackened and blistered all over, about 6 minutes. Cut about a 1/2-inch slit in the side of each one and add to the pot.

Set the lid on the pot slightly askew and simmer for 2 hours. Strain the broth and measure 2 quarts. (Which is about what you should have, if you’re short, add water to bring the broth to that quantity.)

2. Fry the tortilla strips. Cut the tortillas crosswise into 1/4-inch strips. (I find it easiest to roll up 2 tortillas at a time and cut them.) In large (4-quart) saucepan, heat 1/2-inch of oil over medium-high. When quite hot but not smoking (test if it’s hot enough by adding a tortilla strip: it should sizzle vigorously), fry the tortilla strips in two batches, stirring them around in the oil nearly constantly, until they are golden brown and crispy. With a slotted spoon, scoop them out onto paper towels to drain.

3. Prepare the soup. Pour off all but a generous coating of the oil from the saucepan and return to medium-heat. Add the onion, tomato and pepper to the pan and cook, stirring regularly, until soft and just beginning to color slightly. Add the broth and chicken breast. Cook 30 minutes, just until the chicken is done. Remove the chicken, cool slightly, then pull off and discard the skin. Pull the meat from the bones in large shreds; discard the bones. Taste and season the broth with salt, usually about 2 teaspoons.

4. Serve the soup. Divide the tortilla strips and chicken between 8 large warm soup bowls. Ladle a portion of soup into each bowl and serve right away, passing the lime separately.