Cream of Garlic Soup (Knoblauchcremesuppe)

Coming home from the Christmas holidays with no shopping in the house, the pickings are slim. But, there'll always be garlic, onion and for us coffee lovers: milk. This doesn't make sense yet, but bear with me. This soup is actually quite popular in Austria and as always, I am happy to bring the good news to America...

Ingredients:
1 whole thing of garlic
1 medium onion
2 cups bouillon
2 cups milk
3 Tb flour
butter/olive oil
salt/ pepper
fresh parsley if available (I only had oregano, which was good, too)

Chop onions finely and saute together with minced garlic until soft, before adding bouillon and milk and bring to a boil. Add flour and stir constantly for about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and add fresh parlsey. Done.

Mushroom Casserole

Hearty. Warm. Delicious.

Make 1 C. brown rice

Meanwhile...
Sautee:
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
apx. 2 C. chopped mushrooms
then add and wilt:
apx. 4 C. chopped greens (I used Kale)

In a large bowl mix:
1 C. Ricotta (or cottage cheese)
a couple big spoonfuls of yogurt
2 eggs
salt and pepper
a little cumin
a handful of grated cheese

Add the rice (or any other delicious whole grain) and vegetable mixure into the cheese mixture.
Pour into a casserole, top with another handful of cheese, and bake 45min -- 1 hour at 350*. It will be bubblly and golden.

you could also add some chopped cooked sausage.

t.

Cranberry Chutney

This was a success last year - taken from the williams sonoma website - and one of the few things, kellie trusts me, the foreigner, in preparing for thanksgiving.

• 1 bag of cranberries (340 g)
• 1,5 cups of fresh orange juice
• 3/4 cup of cloudy apple juice or cider
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar (firm)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 mint leaves

Sort out the soft cranberries and mix all the ingredients in a pot, bring to a boil and let simmer until it thickens. They suggest about an hour. I think it takes longer. Let it cool and transfer into a different bowl and refrigerate. Take out an hour before serving.

n*

Turkey Brine

I ripped this from the big M. Stewart last year, and it was so good I'm using it once again. (Not to mention I have all of the spices left over from last year!)

Makes enough brine for one 18- to 20-pound turkey

• 7 quarts (28 cups) water
• 1 1/2 cups coarse salt
• 6 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon dried juniper berries
• 2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon black or brown mustard seeds
• 1 fresh whole turkey (18 to 20 pounds), patted dry, neck and giblets reserved for stock, liver reserved for stuffing
• 1 bottle dry Riesling
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 bunch fresh thyme

Word to the wise: this is hard to do by yourself. I know because I just did it while home alone. It is not impossible, but more difficult. I used the 2" baking pan that I will be roasting the turkey in tomorrow, but once I had about 4 quarts water plus a bottle of reisling, my "brining" bag started to sag. Ultimately you want something deep that is as tall as the turkey, or some other turkey around to hold the bag while you pour in the liquid ;)

1. 1. Bring 1 quart water, the salt, bay leaves, and spices to a simmer, stirring until salt has dissolved. Let cool for 5 minutes.
2. 2. Line a 5-gallon container with a large brining or oven-roasting bag. (I used two garbage bags) Place turkey in bag. Add salt mixture, remaining 6 quarts (24 cups) water, and the other ingredients. Tie bag; if turkey is not submerged, weight it with a plate. Refrigerate for 24 hours, flipping turkey once. XO -kellie
   

Cashew Crusted Tofu

This is my own take on a vegan "chicken nugget" recipe, and is actually much simpler. I don't have nutritional yeast lying around anymore like the good ol' California days, but I do have a lot of nuts. I used a handful of cashews that I had roasted a few days before. It works great with the ones I roasted a little too long. Place the cashews in a sandwich bag, and crush them with a rolling pin. Add nut pulver, a sprinkle of bread crumbs and S/P to a shallow dish.

Coat tofu on all sides with olive oil, and then coat it evenly with the nut mixture. Bake on 350 for about 25 min., flipping halfway through.

I served this up with some garlic Swiss Chard, and Basmati rice with a drizzle of Hoisin sauce.

Enjoy! -kellie

Perfect Storm

Perfect for this time of year!

Mix in a bowl:
1/2 C. sugar
the seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean

dip the rim of a glass in water and then dip it in the vanilla sugar.

put some ice in the glass and add:

2 oz. dark rum
1.5 oz. apple cider
1 oz. ginger beer.

delish.

Cranberry Relish

My grandmother makes this every Thanksgiving. This is the perfect thing to bring if you are looking for something cheap, easy, and delicious!

Mix in a Blender:

1 bag raw cranberries
1 large orange whole (remove seeds)
apx. 1 C. Sugar.

It's really good!

tasha

Late Fall Roasted Vegetables

Another great thing to take on Thanksgiving.

Mix in a Pan:

Any vegetable on hand chopped roughly, such as:

Potatoes
Carrots
Green beans
peeled and quartered shallots
whole unpeeled garlic cloves

pour on some olive oil, salt, pepper and any fresh herbs on hand
roast at 400* for about 20 minutes.
tasha.

Ginger Apple Crisp/Galette

The perfect thing to bring on Thanksgiving! (Shout out to KatyJ)
You could easily do this without the galette-- just put the apple mixture topped by the oats mixture in a buttered pan.

First:
Peel, core, and chop 3-4 large to medium apples
Place in a bowl and toss lightly with:
1 T. grated ginger
1 T. chopped crystalized ginger
a large handful of raspberries or cranberries (raw or dried)
a little less than 1/2 C. sugar
a good shake of cinnamon
2 T. Flour

Second:
In another bowl mix with fingers:
1 C. oats
1/2 C. brown sugar
3 T. Flour
1/4 C. butter
a good handful of chopped walnuts or pecans

Now:
Mix with a fork in a bowl:
2.5 C. flour
1t. sugar
1t. salt
1/4 C. water
2/3 C. oil

mix until it comes together as a dough and then roll out a big circle on a piece of foil.

dump the apples in the center and then pull up the edges of the dough around them-- creating a bowl effect. top with oat mixture and slide the whole thing onto a cookie sheet. Bake for about an hour @ 350*

Stamppot

.
Let me introduce to you the finest that dutch cuisine has to offer... well traveled as you are, dear reader, you might think of frikadellen, kroketten or - what the heck - hash brownies. But let me tell you, if there is one thing worth recreating it is stamppot: a refined dish made of mashed potatoes and a green vegetable of your choice. traditionally green cabbage. we used spinach.

1/2 kg of potatoes
1 kg of spinach
salt
nutmeg
butter
bouillon
flour

Make mashed potatos: Bring water with potatoes to a boil, peel them, mash them, add some heated milk, butter, salt and a dash of nutmeg. Meanwhile wash the spinach and sautee it briefly. And now... mix it all together. fun!

Traditionally, stamppot is topped off with some gravy and served with rookworst. We used organic bratwurst instead, which was a fine substiute.

To make the "gravy", I simply melted some butter, stirred in flour and bouillon until it had the right consistency.

Great comfort food!

more on the cold season

ok, true, I am a bit obsessed about this cold I got. but seriously, who wouldn't appreciate advice from mother nature, even if they are not related to eating? They are related to food! yes, you got it. I am talking about inhaling to attack the nasty stuffy nose. Here is how I have defeated any sinus infection et al growing up:

1 onion
1 bag of chamomile tea
2-3 drops of tiger oil (or a tiny bit of tiger balm, if you don't have the oil)
a large pot of boiling water


Basically, you are making a huge pot of onion-chamomile tea with a hint of tiger balm, put a towel over it and your head underneath it and breath for as long as it is hot. My mom made us do this 3 times a day and we all know, we better listen!

Chicken soup

It has gotten cold here. And with the first fall of the temperatures comes inevitably... a cold. I have been sniffling for a week now and I am planning to get rid of this cold by making the ultimate cure: chicken soup.


Ingredients:

• Chicken with bones and skin
• Your greens: parsley, a thick slice of celery root, carrots, parsnip, some leek (you can buy this here already packaged, because people actually still make their own soups)
• Garlic
• 1 yellow onion with skin
• peppercorns
• 1 tomato
• and my personal favourite herb Liebstöckl (I found these translations: Lovage, Love Parsley, Garden lovage, Bladder seed)

Bring the water to a boil with the chicken already in it (otherwise you don't get all the good stuff). Cut your onion in half and roast it on the stove. Keeping its skin will add color.

Wash all of your other ingredients (but keep a carrot and some parsley for later) and add them to the meanwhile boiling water. salt. basta. Sadly, you now have to wait for 2 hours, which I use to write up the recipe.

Once the soup is done, skim some of the fat from the chickenskin off the top. Drain your soup into another bowl and throw in some delicious noodles and the sliced carrot you saved earlier. Boil until tender. Add chicken meat, and finally before serving, add some finely chopped parsley. For an extra health kick you could grate some fresh ginger into your individual soup bowls. Eat it. Feel better.

n*

mini Orange Cakes

This was my first successfully executed dessert in Vienna. I'm pretty darn proud given the measuring restraints and the long hours of figuring out the difference between baking soda and baking powder (in German).

2-3 oranges
12 tbs. brown sugar
6 tbs. melted butter

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of 4 - 6 custard cups
with 2 tbs. brown sugar followed by 1 tbs. melted butter.

Zest one of the oranges. Working with 1 orange at a time, and using a sharp knife, cut a slice off both ends of the orange, and then thickly slice off the peel and pith in strips, following the contour of the fruit. Holding the orange in one hand, cut along either side of each section to release it from the membrane, letting the sections drop into a bowl. (This was messy. The sharper the knife, the better)

Combine wet ingredients with electric mixer:
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room
temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
2 eggs

Beat on medium-high speed until creamy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Dry ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Stir in 1/4 cup heavy cream and 1 tsp. vanilla extract cream until thoroughly incorporated. Spoon the batter over the oranges, dividing it evenly among the custard cups.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Soup is comfort, soup is easy and in the season of pumpkins... Pumpkin Soup. (Kürbis) I chose to use a soup-friendly pumpkin here in Vienna known as the Ambercup, but I also like Hokkaido. Ambercups are smallish, orange and have a dry, sweet taste.

Preheat oven to 400° F, and get yourself these things:
1 Pumpkin (~1 lb or medium sized), halfed and seeded
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Celery Stalks, roughly chopped
2 Carrots, roughly chopped
1 Shallot, roughly chopped
1 Garlic clove, minced
1/2 Tsp. ground Nutmeg
3 - 4 cups Broth
*Heavy cream, Apple cider (optional)

Slice the specimen in half, spoon out the guts and place cut-side-down in a cassarole dish. Fill the dish with about a cup of water so that it does not dry out or burn. Bake at 400° F for around 45 minutes, or until a paring knife glides through the thickest part. Let cool (or treat yourself to a game of hot potato) and scoop the flesh from the outer skin. Set roasted pumpkin aside.



In a large pot heat olive oil, and cook shallots for 5 min. Create a hot spot in the pot by pushing the shallots to the side, and add minced garlic. Cook for 1/2 min (do not burn garlic). Add carrots, celery and sauté for 5 min. Add 3 cups of broth, bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until soft. Add pumpkin/salt & pepper/nutmeg. Puree until smooth. Add more broth if soup is too thick.

*You can also add a bit of heavy cream and apple cider for a more sweet and creamy soup.

Garnish with pumpkin seed oil and serve.

Key

Key to my recipes:

C. = Cup
T. = Tablespoon
t. = teaspoon
# = lb. = pound
b.soda = baking soda
b.powder = baking powder
16 ounces (oz.) = 1 pound

cheers.

link

Cooking Tools and Equivalents from Smitten Kitchen

http://smittenkitchen.com/tools/

Apple Pumpkin Bread

I made this for an Obama Calling Party. The people need their sweets.

This is a quick bread. Quick breads are yummy and generally sweet. This one is delicious. It makes two. Which is good to know before you start to double the recipe because you need two and then realize that you are making four. just saying.

Mix Wet Ing.s:
3/4 C. veg. oil
2 1/4 C. Sugar (i used a mix of organic cane and brown)
1 15oz can pumpkin (tj organic is good)
4 large eggs

In another bowl, mix Dry Ing.s:
3 C. Flour
1/4 t. salt
1.4 t. cinnamon
the recipe calls for allspice, nutmeg, and cloves,
i did a mix of: ginger, nutmeg, and cardamon

Add dry to wet and then fold* in 2 peeled, cored, chopped apples.

pour into two greased loaf pans.
top with:
1 T. flour
5 T. sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1 T. flour mixed together with your fingers.
actually, i doubled this before i realized about the two-- and it was just enough. so double.

Bake apx. 1 hour in 350* oven.

*fold: pour apples in. take a spatula and slice down with the edge through the center of the batter. slide the spatula to the side and pull batter up over the top of the apples. repeat, rotating the bowl until the apples are gently combined. As a rule, we don't want to over mix batters so that they will not get tough. so, folding is a gently way to introduce new ingredients. tips from tasha.

t.

Meaty Moussaka

First of all, let me just say: holy deliciousness.
This is a perfect food for today in nyc: it's cold and rainy and dark in a way that is made better only by rainboots and a warm, luscious, layered meal with a hunk of bread. Oh, and tea. Ok, fine, also wine.

Sautee a med onion (chopped pretty small) in about 1 T olive oil add a couple of cloves of garlic minced and then about 3/4 lb. of ground meat (lamb or beef--preferably organic). Add one 28 oz can of plum tomatoes (drain and reserve 3/4 C. juice, chop tomatoes). Add 1/4 t. cinnamon and same of allspice if you have it (i did not). S/P to taste. simmer until thickened slightly, apx. 20 min. (i added a bit of wine).

Slice an eggplant (apx. 2 lbs.) into 1/3" slices. Line up on the counter and salt generously. cover in paper towels and layer some pots and pans on them to squeeze out the moisture. Eggplants have too much water. When you squeeze it out you make the eggplant less mushy and bland and more delish. let them sit for 10 min or so then wipe off with a damp cloth.
You are suppose to brush with olive oil and broil on both sides. My broiler, it turns out, was being used as a playground for my mice friends. gross. I mean really. So gross. So no broiler. I roasted at 500* for apx 5 min on each side on an oiled baking sheet.


now. oil a pan or two. i did two so that i can freeze one. layer eggplant on the bottom, spoon on the meat sauce, add another layer of eggplant. Set aside. Heat oven to 400*.


You can follow N's recipe for bechamel. Mine is only slightly different:
Make a roux with 2.5T. butter (melt in pan) add 3.5T. flour + whisk for 3 min. Add 1.5 C. whole milk whisking constantly. Allow to boil and then reduce heat whisking constantly for apx 3min or until slightly thickened. add 1/4 lb (4 oz) crumbled feta and keep whisking. Add s/p. turn off heat and let sit for 5 min. Start whisking again while adding 1 egg + 1 yolk (beaten well) in a slow stream. Whisk until well combined. The egg gives the bechamel a little lift when it bakes. It makes it otherworldly.

Spoon sauce over layers and then top with a couple T.'s of parm.

Bake 30 min. until bubbly and starting to turn golden.

Apple Cake

My grandmother (Mama) made this cake as an after-school snack.
It is fall.

Ok.
mix in a large bowl:
3 eggs
3/4 Cup white sugar
3/4 Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup veg. oil
2 t. vanilla

in another bowl mix:
2 Cups flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 Tablespoon cinnamon

add dry to wet.

add to that:
4 apples peeled cored and sliced.

pour into a greased 9 X 13" pan, bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

It's really good with butter.
It's even better when you picked the apples with friends on a beautiful fall day!

Vegetarian Moussaka

We had a beautiful eggplant at home and as always some lingering potatoes, so tonight's dish had to be a vegetarian moussaka. the greek interpretation of a lasagne. or is lasagne the italian interpretation of moussaka? regardless.

1 eggplant
1 medium onion
2-4 garlic cloves
7-8 smaller potatoes
6 tomatoes on the vine
salt, oregano and nutmeg as you wish
butter, milk and flour for béchamel with no measurements


I salted the eggplant slices and left them for about half an hour before I patted them dry. I then roasted them in the oven for a bit. I can't say, if this actually did anything special to their flavor, but I felt fancy doing it. If nothing else, it did dry the eggplant for sure.

Meanwhile, I boiled the potatoes for a few minutes. Once I drained them, I prepared a simple yet delicious tomato sauce by sautéing one onion and a couple of garlic cloves, adding fresh tomatoes and some (greek) oregano and salt. After about ten minutes, I liked the consistency of it. After greasing the pan, I layered first potatoes, then eggplant, then the tomato sauce, repeated the layers of potatoes and eggplant and finished with a simple béchamel sauce (add flour to melted butter, whisk, add milk, don't forget to whisk, salt, whisk, nutmeg, still whisking, pour before it gets too thick!).

In the oven at 180 C for 40 minutes at least. At some point I added a little bit of water and covered the pan with some aluminum foil. Before serving I sprinkled some feta cheese on top which was probably my favorite part of the dish. K made a fabulous green salad with my

favorite shallot dressing.

voila! there it is! n*