Showing posts with label #germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #germany. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Bierocks: Celebrating Oktoberfest with #FoodieExtravaganza

This month the bloggers over at Foodie Extravaganza are celebrating Oktoberfest.  This party is being hosted by Sue of Palatable Pastime who invited us saying:
"September is the month for the Munich Oktoberfest. Let's celebrate by sharing our favorite Biergarten and German Cuisine inspired recipes!"
Foodie Extravaganza is a fun group that gets together each month to celebrate Food Holidays. Sometimes they are popular holidays like Oktoberfest or Thanksgiving or popular foods like chocolate in February or cookies in December.  However,  sometimes they are very obscure holidays, like World Gin Day.  Yep, I made a cocktail but not the kind you are thinking of.......stop on by and see my Shrimp Martini.



Back to this month's theme.  I love German foods and wasn't sure what  I was going to share having already posted Wiener Schnitzel, Sweet and Sour Cabbage , Fondue, Lebkuchen, Bratwurst Salad, to name a few.

Then I remembered my friend Paula, of Smidgens, Snippets & Bits, often had Bierocks on her Weekly Menu.  When I asked her about them she sent me a link to this recipe from Allrecipes.com.  I had never heard of these meat and cabbage stuffed rolls from Germany but I must be the only one because the website was full of recipes.  I read them all, and noted that they are similar to dumplings or hand pies.  They remind me a bit of Pasties that we enjoy here in Michigan.



They can be as easy or as difficult to make as you want.  You will need bread dough for making the rolls.  You can use my recipe for dinner rolls and use on half, freezing the other half for next time, use your own favorite recipe or buy some frozen bread or dinner roll dough at your local grocers.


Mix together some burger, onion and cabbage.  Season with salt and pepper and let it cook, stirring occasionally for a half an hour or so.  Then set it aside and let it cool while your dough makes it's first rise.


Punch down the dough and divide it into 20 pieces.  I made a full recipe of the filling but only took out 8 frozen dinner rolls to use in this recipe.  I will be making another recipe with the remaining filling and sharing it with you at a later time.  

Roll out each piece and place 2 Tablespoons of the cooled filling into the center of each.  Gather the corners together and seal the edges.


Place seam side down onto a baking sheet that has been treated with cooking spray.  Cover and let rise for another hour. 


Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and brush immediately with melted butter.


Bierocks

Freshly made bread dough or frozen dough, thawed
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1/2 med. cabbage, cored and shredded
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 stick butter, melted

Bring the dough through a first rise.  While the dough is rising, cook the ground beef in a large skillet with the onions and cabbage,stirring occasionally, until the beef is browned and the veggies are tender.  Set aside and let cool until dough is ready.

Divide the dough into 20 equal pieces.  Roll each piece out and place 2 Tablespoons of the meat/veggie filling onto the center.  Gather the corners together and seal the edges.  Place, seam side down, onto a baking sheet that has been treated with cooking spray.

Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.  Remove from oven and immediately brush with melted butter. Print Recipe

More Oktoberfest Fun Foods


Sunday, December 4, 2016

Christmas Around the World. Lebkuchen (German Spice Cookies) #ChristmasCookies

We are 1/3 of the way through our 12 Days of Christmas Cookie Event.  Yep, today is Day 4 as we travel the globe celebrating Christmas around the world.  Thus far, I have shared Anginetti from Italy, Rogaliki from Poland and Ghraybeh from Lebanon.



Today we are traveling to Germany where we will try these delicious, frosted spice cookies containing candied fruit.  It is like individual little fruitcakes, absolutely amazing.


I found this recipe on Epicurious.  I had to adapt it quite a bit but they still turned out spectacular and are a great addition to my Global Cookie Platter.  The original recipe calls for 3/4 c. hazelnuts and 3 T. baking cocoa.  I couldn't find any shelled hazelnuts and did not want to shell them myself so I adapted by eliminating the cocoa, cutting down on the sugar and using Nutella.  The recipe also calls for you to grind the almonds with the dry ingredients to make the nut flour.  I used my Vitamix but you could just as easily substitute almond flour instead of grinding the almonds.

The original recipe also called for cutting rounds from rice paper on which to place the cookies.  I don't know who has time for that nonsense when baking for Christmas but certainly not I.  I covered my baking sheet with parchment.

Lebkuchen
adapted from Epicurious.com

3/4 c. sliced almonds
2 3/4 c. flour
1 T. cinnamon
1 t. ginger
1/2 t. cloves
generous pinch of salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
3/4 c. Nutella 
3/4 c. dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. honey
4 T. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 c. finely diced fruitcake mix
2 c. powdered sugar
3 T. water

Finely grind the almonds with the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, baking powder and baking soda using a heavy duty blender or food processor.  

In the large bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the Nutella, brown sugar, honey and butter until creamy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.  Turn the speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture until just blended.  Stir in the candied fruitcake mix. The dough will be like a fudge brownie type mixture.

Using a cookie scoop, place the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet approximately 2" apart. Bake in a preheated 350* oven for about 15 minutes, until the surface no longer looks wet. Transfer to cooling racks and allow to cool completely.

Sift the powdered sugar into a small bowl and stir in the water until smooth.  Using a knife or an offset spatula, place a swipe of frosting onto each cookie.  Print Recipe


Welcome to 12 Days Christmas Cookies, hosted by FamilyAroundTheTable and CookingwithCarlee. We'll be sharing delicious cookie recipes all week long in celebration of the holiday season. Perfect for your holiday cookie trays or party dessert table. Search #ChristmasCookies to see all the goodies these 12 days. Follow the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies Pinterest board for more cookie ideas. Please visit all the blogs sharing cookie recipes today:

Here are the offerings for Day 4 of the 12 Days of #ChristmasCookies


Sunday, October 2, 2016

Celebrating OktoberFest with #SundaySupper

Cricket, of Cricket's Confections is hosting this month's Sunday Supper with the theme of Oktoberfest.  According to the invitation, Oktoberfest is the longest running festival in held each year in Bavaria, Germany.  It runs from mid September through the first weekend in October so we made it just in time.


When I signed up to join in the fun and add a recipe I wrote that I would be making a Warsteiner Fondue.  I wrote that because Warsteiner is my favorite beer and, as the name shows, is brewed in Germany.  Then I went into the refrigerator to pull out a Warsteiner.  I found Corona, Bud, Bud Light, Summer Shandy....even a Red Stripe, but alas, no Warsteiner.



So I ran up to the nearest grocery store which is still 20 minutes away and, of course, they didn't have any Warsteiner.  What they did have was a Samuel Adams Octoberfest beer. This beer is described as hearty and smooth with a deep flavor and complexity.  I bought that since, if not brewed in Germany, was at least brewed in the Bavarian style.  All this to say that my recipe name is now changed to Octoberfest Fondue.


I love serving fondues and normally place them in my miniature crockpot....but of course it is packed away, along with my fondue pot and my individual crocks that I use for soup and was my next choice.  I cannot wait to get this move over and have all my "stuff" available again.



I just placed it in a regular bowl and served it up with a side of  Chicken Sausage, Sweet Peppers, HoneyCrisp Apples and Soft Pretzels. This was a prelude to a light dinner of Chicken Noodle Soup. We enjoyed it with a stein of Octoberfest beer and toasted our German son, Max, who had given us these gorgeous steins when he lived here as an exchange student.




Octoberfest Fondue

1 c. Belgian Style Beer
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
4 oz. gruyere cheese, shredded
4 oz. gouda cheese. shreddded
juice from 1/4 lemon
2 t. honey dijon mustard
2 cooked chicken sausages, cut into bite sized rounds
1 apple, sliced and tossed in apple cider
2 large soft pretzels, cut into bite size pieces
3 miniature sweet peppers, cut into quarters

Place beer and garlic into a small saucepan over med heat.  Bring to a gentle boil.  Remove garlic clove and reduce heat to simmer.  Stir in the cheese, a handful at a time, stirring after each addition until cheese is completely melted.  Stir in the lemon juice and honey dijon mustard.  Pour into a fondue pot and serve with sausages, apple, pretzels, sweet peppers and/or your favorite dippers. Print Recipe



Let's look at what the others brought to our Oktoberfest!

Appetizers (Vorspeisen)

Breakfast (Frühstück)

Condiments (Würze)

Dessert (Nachtisch)

Main Dish (Hauptgericht)

Side Dish (Beigabe)

Sunday Supper MovementJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Germany collides with Asia for #WinePW

It is time for Wine Pairing Weekend and Martin of Enofylz Wine Blog invited us to explore the Gruner Veltliner growing region.  You can see his invitation post here.


I went down to my Wine Merchant and they had one bottle of this wine from a Winery called Ecker. The owner of the store said that it was a bright, crisp wine.  I thought that this winery was in Germany, hence the title of this blog, but as it turns out the winery and most Gruner Veltliner is grown in Austria.  So I guess the title of this blog should be Austria collides with Asia LOL.

As luck would have it, I had guests over for dinner the night I opened this bottle.  Our friends, The Benda's, son had gotten married and they had a house full of out of town and country guests.  The Bendas are a military family so they have ties to many different countries in the world.  We had invited them and their 7 houseguests: The Bride and Groom who live on the west side of our State; Greg's mother who lives in Minnesota; Friends who live in Washington and Friends who live in Germany.  This is where the luck part comes in.  When I brought out this wine, Claudia (who lives in Germany) got very excited and said that this is her favorite wine.  It made me happy to be able to offer her a wine that she loved.


I decided to serve Asian food for several reasons.  Most people like Asian.  I could offer a large variety.  It fit into my new eating plan.  When cooking Asian, the prep work is all done ahead of time and dinner takes only minutes to get on the table.

I served dumplings as an appetizer along with smoked salmon on cucumber rounds.  Linda had brought shrimp toasts and crab dip.  Frank made up  a batch of his Lychee Nut Martinis.  When we had visited a bit and everyone was relaxing with appetizers and drinks in hand, I retreated to the kitchen and fired up my wok.  First I cooked up some Pork Chop Suey, as it keeps warm very well. Into the chafing dish it went and the wok was rinsed clean for the next dish, Kung Pao Chicken, shown above.  I will be sharing this recipe tomorrow at Sunday Supper so stay tuned.  The Kung Pao Chicken went into another chafing pan.  The third entree was Garlic Shrimp and Green Beans which got put into a crockpot set on low setting right before serving so the shrimp wouldn't overcook. I served both brown and white rice and poured wine for with dinner.  

Claudia, Linda and I had the Gruner Veltliner, while the others requested a sweeter wine or a red wine.  I thought the pairing worked well.  The Gruner Veltliner reminds me of Sauvignon Blanc which is one of my favorite whites.  I must confess, that I was busy visiting and didn't spend an inordinate amount of time with the tasting but Linda and Claudia each had another glass finishing up the bottle so they must have thought it paired nicely as well.

Here are the Gruner Veltliner pairings that the others chose:



  • Michelle of Rockin Red Blog tell us Why You Should be Drinking Grüner Veltliner.
  • Jill of L’Occassion recommends we Go Ahead and Say It: Grüner Veltliner
  • Camilla, Culinary Adventures with Camilla is dishing- Herbs, Bitter Greens, and Halibut Cheeks with Grüner Veltliner
  • Sarah of Curious Cuisinere tempts us with Backhendl (Austrian Fried Chicken) and Grüner Veltliner
  • Nancy of Pull that Cork will be offering Grüner Veltliner: A Pair of Pear(ings) for #winePW
  • Lori of Dracaena Wines will be sending A Message in a Bottle From Austria
  • David of Cooking Chat presents a healthy Kale and Tempeh Curry with Grüner
  • Jeff of FoodWineClick asks the question Is Grüner Veltliner Your Next Pizza Wine?
  • Lauren of the The Swirling Dervish proclaims Gruner Veltliner: A Lot Easier to Drink than It is to Say
  • Cindy of Grape Experiences recommends we Wine and Dine: Gruner Veltliner and Salmon Teriyaki with Garlic Baby Potatoes
  • Jade of Tasting Pour serves up Shrimp and Corn Soup with Gruner Veltlner
  • Wendy of A Day In The Life On The Farm presents Germany collides with Asia for #WinePW
  • Julie of Wine N Friends proffers an Emotional Connection with Grüner Veltliner
  • Martin of ENOFYLZ Wine Blog will be offering A Taste of Grüner Veltliner; Old World and New World