Day 65! Finally, Germany(Berlin)(EU)-Deutsch Frikadellen (meatballs), Spätzle und rotkole

I've got to admit that although I absolutely enjoy German food, it's a little on the heavy side for me. Tonight's meal was very good, but between the meatballs, gravy, spaetzle and red cabbage, I'm full in a weighted-down-kind-of-way. That said, it's also a humid 85F here tonight--downright tropical - so cranking out a wintry meal does seem a tad counterintuitive...

But, this project is not bound by weather conditions or personal taste - it's mission-driven - so, while these dishes may not have been my all-time favorites, I've certainly learned some things about the beautiful country of Germany and it's cuisine I didn't know before. Therefore, it's all good.


For starters, I was given a copy of an original recipe for Rotkole (red cabbage) from my wonderful friend, business partner and frankly, one of the most interesting and eclectic people I know, Karen. Her grandmother, Mathilda Ramrath,  was born in Germany in the early 1900's. Like so many immigrants, she came to this country in search of a better life.

When the stock market crashed in the 1930's, Mathilda returned to Germany with her son, and left him to be raised by relatives where he would be properly cared for. She came back to the U.S and worked alongside her husband in a gas station, returning briefly to Germany in the late 1940's, but eventually came back to the U.S. with her son to live a long life, surrounded by friends and family. I am honored and pleased to be in possession of her recipe - in her original handwriting - which, by the way, I liked far better than the meatballs and spaetzle!

Located in Central Europe and stretching from the Alps across the Northern plains to the North and Baltic Seas, Germany is known for many things. Among them,  famous musicians, the Holocaust, world renound German engineering, the German shepherd (my favorite) and many other societal contributions. Needless to say, Germany's history is both remarkable and complex.

Most people equate German food with meat and potatoes, and while this is true, the focus on sweet and sour in many dishes is uniquely German. Moreover, cuisine varies widely from one province to another, with influences from Italy, Turkey and increasingly, Asian cultures. As in the U.S. pizza and cheeseburgers are popular fastfood staples.

Bacon, lean ground beef, bread, onion, anchovies and an egg make the meatballs

Your hands are your best tools - combine as you would meatloaf

Shape into 2" meatballs and cook in broth for 20 minutes

Gravy made of butter, flour, capers, lemon juice, mustard and an egg yolk

Cook cabbage with vinegar, sugar, cloves and a chopped onion

Make the spaetzle: eggs, flour, milk, baking powder and salt

Mix dough - add a little milk if too thick at first

Force dough through colander with a rubber spatula - spaetzle drops into water and cooks 

German Meatballs, spaetzle and lemon-caper gravy

Rotkole - lovely to look at and very good to eat

These recipes are fairly long and detailed, so I am opting not to write them out...However both the spaetzle and the meatballs can be found at the following link: www.germanculture.com

Here's Mathilda's Rotkole Recipe

Red Cabbage - Rotkole

1/2 inch water in pan

Bring to a boil and add cabbage and one medium sized onion - chopped

1 tsp. salt

1/ cup vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/ tsp ground cloves

2 Tbsp. bacon fat (I used butter)

flour to thicken

That's it - that's all the direction you'll get because that's the way Mathilda wrote it!

Final Assessment:  Very good hearty fare, better perhaps, cooked on a cool fall night! The Rotkole was rockin'

Wasabi Mayonnaise Salmon Recipe

There is an exchange that happens in my household. I ask "what should I make for dinner?" and I hear the refrain "Japanese food." The problem is many of the necessary fresh ingredients for the Japanese food in my repertoire, such as shiso, shiitake or enoki mushrooms, gyoza wrappers, mentaiko, udon, daikon and tuna, are not ingredients I typically have on hand. In fact, I need to go to an Asian specialty store to buy them. But I do have a few recipes that come from one of my favorite cookbooks, Let's Cook Japanese Food! that I can make at a moment's notice. And now I have a another one, salmon with wasabi mayonnaise.

The other day I was looking for Japanese salmon recipes and found one for Sake no Mayonnaisu. I didn't actually have any mayonnaise on hand, but I did have wasabi mayonnaise! Why not use it instead? It was perfect. The mayo protects the salmon from drying out and extends the flavor. I am going to give you the instructions for making it with salmon fillets but you can make it with steaks as well. The basic procedure is to broil it on both sides, then add some mayo--as much or as little as you like, then broil it again slightly and serve. I think you could use other flavored mayo too such as miso mayonnaise or Dijon mustard mayonnaise to good effect.

This is such an easy recipe for salmon, I hesitate to even call it a recipe. But the truth is, we all need a few dead simple options. It's not that cooking takes too much time, but it does take some thinking. This is a recipe for those days when you literally can't think straight.


Wasabi Mayo Salmon, adapted from Let's Cook Japanese Food!serves 4

Ingredients

4 4-5 ounce fillets of salmon, I used Copper River Coho
1/4 cup wasabi mayonnaise (I like the Trader Joe's brand)
Salt

Instructions

To prepare the fish, slice a few gashes in the skin, to allow it to crisp up nicely when broiled. Season the fish with salt and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before cooking.

Preheat your broiler, if necessary. Broil the fillets 4 minutes per 1/2 inch thick, starting skin side up, flipping the fish once during cooking. One to two minutes before the fish is done, top each serving with the mayonnaise and return to the broiler. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!