Side | Soup | Salad – Page 2 – melaniepatrick.de

Spaetzle. The secret to the fluffy pasta.

My grandma was from Southern Germany and was always very strict on traditions. Every – I mean every – Sunday there would be a huge roast on the table, alongside with a little salad, lots of gravy and spaetzle. As my family lived some hundred kilometers away, those Sunday feasts were quite a rare thing that I looked forward to. In total contrast to my dad who grew up having a roast on Sundays and having to eat the rests throughout the following week.

But I was a fan of those spaetzle which my grandma made every time from scratch and with the most time-consuming method possible. This was by smearing a thin layer of dough on a cutting board and then kind of scraping the dough off with a large knife so that long strips are formed and fell directly into the boiling water. Every Swabian “hausfrau” is proud to make spaetzle that way and everybody daring to use other, less tedious methods would not be accepted as a good housewife.

Sometimes I still get the craving for a Sunday roast and spaetzle, but if I’m making spaetzle for more than one person, I leave the traditional scraping method behind and go for the pressing method. Either through a colander by scraping with a large silicone spatula or a press – think potato ricer but with bigger holes.

Oh, and if you’re not a fan of Sunday roasts and gravy (read: vegetarian), stack them into a large bowl with Emmental cheese and roasted onions and heat it up until the cheese melts. Serve with some fresh salad and you have really nourishing soul food.

SPAETZLE
for 2 as a main course, for 4 as side dish

300 g / 2 1/2 cups / 10.5 oz flour
3 eggs
250 ml / 1 cup water (or milk and water mixed)
salt and pepper
nutmeg, freshly ground
butter
fried onions

Weigh out the flour and make a little well. You don’t have to be 100 percent exact here, but I’m a little manic that way. That’s why my other electronic scale has increments of 0.1 grams. For measuring out really small quantities like baking powder and such.

In this case, it’s not really important to weigh out the flour. In fact, my grandma just scooped out some handfuls depending the amount and size of the eggs.

Measure out 1 cup of milk and water mixed – no special ratio needed. Personally, I like 50/50, but if you’re lactose intolerant, skip the milk and use only water.

+++ EDIT +++
According to my aunt and uncle, you should only use water – if you use any. My aunt uses only eggs and flour, adding just enough water to give the dough the right consistency.

Now add the eggs, milk/water mixture as well as the spices (salt, pepper, nutmeg) to the flour and start stirring with a large wooden spoon. I know, it will be lumpy at first. But don’t be tempted to reach for the hand mixer. You need to beat it by hand, otherwise they will be hard and rubbery if you overbeat the dough with a machine.

So the first secret is – elbow grease…

Beat the heck out of it until it looks mostly smooth, sticks to the bowl and flows like thick lava from your spoon.

Now comes the tricky part where it is impossible to make pictures without getting dough on your camera. This is sticky stuff.

Bring a pot with salt water to boil and have a colander, your largest rubber spatula, a slotted spoon and a bowl with ice water ready.
Set the colander on top of the pot. Before you start anything else, check that the colander sits a couple of inches above the water. Now ladle in a big spoonful of dough and press it through the holes with the rubber spatula. Remove the colander from the pot and fish out all the swimming pasta strands and put them into the ice water. Check their size. If you think you want them longer and thinner, add some more water, if you want them small and stubbly add some more flour. Repeat pressing batches of dough through the colander until you have used it all up.

It’s important to get them out as soon as they float to the top, or else you will get rather hard and chewy pasta. You might have guessed it – that’s the second secret.

Or, if you happen to have a potato ricer with interchangeable hole plates, then take the one with the biggest holes.

Melt some butter in a casserole and gently cover all the pasta with butter, while reheating it. You can also place the hole thing into the oven and reheat it gently in there. Just be sure to put in enough butter, or all will be sticking together.

Now top it off with fried onions and more butter. Serve with your favorite pot roast or gulasch.

By the way, on the photo above you see the leftovers I layered in there with cheese and heated it up the next day in my company’s microwave. That was a satisfying lunch!

Red lentils. Vegetarian soul food.

This is the stuff that gives this blog its name – at least half of the name. Lentils are very nutritious, they contain carbohydrates, proteins, fibers and – very important in stressful times – folate, vitamin B1 and iron. I like to prepare them as a thick soup, but I don’t puree them as I like the soft bite they have. This is an Indian-inspired version of lentil soup, but basically I just put in all the exotic spices I have in my kitchen. And the best thing is, you have a heart-warming dinner in just 20 minutes!

RED LENTIL SOUP for 3 (or 2 hungry ones)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
(1 small carrot, diced)
2-3 cloves of garlic, diced
1 small sprig of rosemary
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup red lentils
3-4 cups water
1/4 teaspoon each, dried and ground: ginger, coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili, pepper
1/2 teaspoon each: garam masala, ras-el-hanout
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 cardamom pods
1 clove
1 bay leaf
juice of 1 lemon
juice of 1 orange
salt to taste
full-fat yogurt to taste (leave out for a vegan dish)

Chop onion and garlic into small dices, and do the same with a small carrot if you like.

Heat up a nice wide pot and pour in the oil. Always heat up your cooking pots first before putting in any fat, this will prevent your stuff from sticking to the bottom of the pot – this is especially effective if you want to brown meat in a no-nonstick pot.

Let the onions, the garlic and the rosemary sweat for a couple of minutes, until they are soft and translucent. Then, put in the tomato paste and let it heat up for a minute or so, this will take away some acidity and some of the “metal can taste”. Add 3 cups of water and the red lentils and bring to a simmer.

Here come the spices. Just grab everything that looks exotic and/or smells like Christmas.

Add all the spices, the lemon and orange juice and give it all a good stir. I know, this looks like there’s way too much spices, but trust me: it will taste good. And DO NOT add the salt now, or the lentils will take more like double the time to get done.

Let it all simmer for 20 minutes and then give the lentils a taste. If they are soft, but not mushy and some split open, then you’re good to go. Add the salt – I think I took about a teaspoon – and serve with a good dollop of yogurt. Or cream cheese. Or crème fraiche.

Sausage salad. The Bavarian beer garden classic.

You heard right: sausage salad. Salad made from sausages. Ham sausage to be exact. This may sound weird, but it’s really delicious.

It’s a Bavarian beer garden classic and I guess that’s why this dish was invented: the sausage keeps fresh longer when you put it in a sour and salty solution. And you needed that when the only available air condition was chestnut trees… By the way, most beer gardens in Bavaria are still “cooled” with old chestnut trees and are BYO (“bring your own”), but a little differently as you might expect if you were born in an English speaking country: you’re allowed to bring your own food, but you have to buy the beer there.

Sausage Salad / Wurstsalat

700 g ham sausage (“Schinkenwurst”, “Leberkaese” or “Lyoner”)
1 large onion
1 cup gherkin slices
1 cup gherkin brine
6 tablespoons vinegar
6 tablespoons water
salt and pepper to taste

Peel the sausages and cut them into 3-5 mm thick slices.

Put them into a large bowl.

Cut one large onion (or 2-3 smaller ones) into fine stripes and put them on top of the sausage slices.

Add 1 cup of gherkin slices (I buy them whole and slice them myself), then give the mixture a toss, so that everything is evenly distributed. Then add salt and pepper and all the liquid ingredients – they should nearly cover the whole mixture. Put it all in the refrigerator and let it there over night.

Serve with pretzels and a nice cold beer.

Salad. Suitable for male humans.

This is a little salad I like to make, because it’s quick and tasty. And not to forget: it’s a light lunch or dinner, but not so light that you’re hungry again after half an hour. Depending on your hunger, you can make it even more filling by adding nuts or Parmesan cheese. Or both.

Another thing: You’ll save washing some dishes, as the salad dressing is made in the pan with the chicken. I like dressing. My husband likes it so much he even drinks it. So don’t be surprised if it looks a little bit too much. If you prefer having less dressing, start with the half amounts of soy sauce and vinegar or let it cook longer.

CHICKEN SALAD for 2

2 garlic cloves
1 sprig of rosemary
4 slices bacon
3 tablespoons olive oil
300 g chicken fillets
3 tablespoons soy sauce | tamari
6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 package lamb’s lettuce or romaine salad

Put olive oil, garlic, rosemary and the bacon into a wide pan and let the bacon sizzle on low until it turns reddish and crunchy. Take out the bacon and let it cool on some kitchen roll sheets. Now you have a nicely flavored oil which is a good basis for the dressing.

Cut the chicken fillets into small bits – either bite size or finger-thick strips.

Turn the heat on medium-high, toss in the chicken bits and let them fry, cook through and get some golden brown spots.
They don’t really have to get brown, as there is already pretty much taste from the bacon and the meat will get brown enough when you put in the soy sauce and the balsamic vinegar.

Speaking of soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. When your chicken is cooked through (chicken should always be cooked “well done”), pour them into the hot pan, reduce the heat to low and let it all cook until it thickens a bit and looks somewhat syrupy. When you pour in the vinegar, move your head away from the pan – vinegar vapors are not the most pleasant thing for your nose.

While the salad dressing thickens, go wash the salad. And if you like, heat up some French bread (my favorite is baguette) in the oven.

Put the salad on a plate, arrange the bacon and the chicken on the side (so that the salad won’t go flat because of the heat – lamb’s lettuce is very fragile) and slowly drizzle the dressing over the salad. Tastes best with a hot french bread and a nice cold beer.