What are you cooking today?

They are most commonly eaten in a broth type soup.

Or you cut leftover Maultaschen in slices and fry them with onions, eggs, mushrooms and herbs. I have never heard of Maultaschen with sauce/gravy.

thanks gals, I'll see what I can come up with... maybe I'll mix a bit of pesto in broth, for a little extra kick.

As a rule, Maultaschen are served in a clear soup base. Or did you have them fried?

I usually make a broth from vegetarian stock (well I knowI'm stupid but I have gone the whole hog and boiled bones with carrot, celery etc, and then thrown it all away. Didn't like it.) Anyway, chopping some chives into the stock just before serving is good. Also another fabulous spice mix from the Reform Haus is Endoferm. You can add it to everything from white sauces to clear stocks, meat, bolognaise sauce, seasoning steaks, absolutely everything. It has no nasties in it (monosodium glutamate, colour etc), and it doesn't make things taste of Endoferm, just improves the overall flavour. I havebought lots of this and taken it overseas with me for years. As a stock powder without too much colour, try Frugola, also from Reform Haus.

There is actually hardly any evidence whatsoever that MSG is actually bad for you. I mean, does everyone in China have a headache all the time? No. The fact that it is only known by it's chemical name, and does not have a nice friendly name like "salt" helps alot on this front of course. Everyone is super paranoid about food containing MSG, but quite honestly, it is very unfounded. It is only really bad when there is loads of it in something, which is also true of every day common sodium chloride (mixed with potassium chloride sometimes. Aaah! Potassium! We'll all blow up!" Scaaaaaaaared.)

I'm not too neurotic about what I eat, but that is something that I try to avoid all the time. I have read reports about research with rats that developed cancers directly resulting from Monosodium glutamate in their food.

I had a very good friend some years ago - she was our daughter's godmother. In her whole family and in the family of her husband, everybody, and I mean everybody, used Fondor on everything. If the meat was cooked, Fondor first. In the cabbage, Fondor. They all used it in just about everything they ate - I have never seen so much used in my life. And I have never met a family who had so many people dying of cancer. She also died of cancer.

So it is something that I try not to eat. ok? One or two internet info sites about MSG.

The physical symptoms caused by Monosodium Glutamate are migraines, nausea, digestive upsets, bad dreams, disturbed sleep, drowsiness, heart palpitations, hair loss, asthma, anaphylactic shock, rapidly increasing diabetes, and many other problems. Some of the other harmful effects are burning sensation and numbness in the back of the neck, forearms and chest. A feeling of itchiness, warmth and weakness in the face, upper back, neck and arms and also, chest pains, facial pressure or tightness, spontaneous ejaculation, bronchospasm (difficulty breathing), nausea, rapid heartbeat, weak pulse, violent dreams, drowsiness and weakness. www.blurtit.com/q921900.html

www.cbn.com/CBNnews/110755.aspx
www.cancerpreventionsociety.org/archivedNews2005.htm

Maultaschen are similar to perogies. Maultaschen are square, perogies are half round, fill varies as much as it does in Maultaschen.Ravioli similar.

WHAT? Perogies are not similar! Ask a Pole or a Ukrainian... Maultaschen are pastey crap, while perogies are sweet goodness from the Slavic gods!

"Maultaschen are pastey crap, while perogies .."

I won't get fat on either one, I only eat them when I must

I would buy this except that just about every savory packaged food out there seems to have some form of MSG (look for 'autolysed yeast extract', 'hydrolysed vegetable protein (HVP)' , 'sodium caseinate' or 'natural flavourings') and yet nobody complains about dorito headache, burger king headache, ranch dressing headache or campbell's soup headache. They weird thing about cancer is that sometimes it can also be genetic. As for rats, everything causes cancer in rats especially when you feed it to them in quantities 10 times their bodyweight.

Don't forget to mention for all the glutamate dreaders -

No more tomatoes for you!
No more cheese for you!
No more grape juice for you!
No more soy sauce for you!
No more eggs for you!
No more peas for you!
No more meat for you!
No more milk for you!

OK I'm stopping here just cause I'm tired, not because the list's ended.

Oh, and one more thing - don't forget when you have a baby, never ever feed it on mother's milk. Glutamate there too, whadaya know.

what is that then? like your walking down the street and suddenly boooommm! oh pardon me madam ..sort of thing?

I hadn't noticed that! Basically just copied and pasted what looked like an interesting list.

You don't all have to get your knickers in a twist. I know that there is msg lots of food that make up the daily diet. I just think it is probably a good idea not to consciously add extra to the basically unavoidable.

I've just ordered 3 kg of the stuff!

Sanddorn... this is a new one to me. I've been putting it on my son's PB&J sandwiches, thinking it was rose hip spread or something (high in vit C), but I just looked it up and it's "sea buckthorn". First time in my life have I heard of this! Turns it's also high in Vit C, so I will stick with it.

btw, thanks to everyone for the Maultaschen advice! I always likened them to ravioli.

Maultaschen can also be served with Bratensauce (a thinnish gravy) and topped with crispy fried onions.
Unlike most of the people above, I've actually lived in Stuttgart so if someone says that there's never any sauce, well it wouldn't be correct.
Shredding them and frying with egg or serving with broth are also acceptable. So there.

I"m making a basic chili in any case.

Spare-ribs in an herb crust, oven roasted potatoes and onions marinated in garlic-chilli oil and creamed carrots in a rosemary roux. Damn, it's great to have time for cooking again!

P.S. @ Katrina - Just because I haven't heard of something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. You had me at fried onions.

Hellllllppppp!

Right, i've got a hotch potch of ingredients and wondering what to do best with them.

Got 500g of beef mince, some red, green and yellow peppers, mushrooms, black beans in chilli sauce, basmati rice and tortilla warps.

In addition I have onions, a small tin of tomato puree and garlic but NO tin of chopped tomatos.

Now normally i'd be stuck between making a chilli and burritos but i'm worried that the lack of tinned tommies might kill the whole deal.

So, was thinking of frying off onions and garlic, adding mince to brown and then later chopping in some peppers and the black beans with the tin of puree for moisture and a glug or so of red wine to taste.

Maybe some mushrooms for volume.

Once ready serving it with tortillas and some hot salsa dip.

Can one of you gourmets tell me if this is going to work or will it be a unmitigated disaster without a tin of tomatoes in the mix?

It's the mushrooms that are the worrisome component.
Any herbs/spices going in or are you depending on the chili sauce only?

I never use tomatoes (tinned or otherwise) to make my burritos or fajitas, you should be just fine.

BBQ and the recipes are secret.

Ok, i'll dump the shrooms.

Spicewise there will be fresh chillies, chilli powder, garlic peri peri sauce and oregano going in plus seasoning of course.

Thanks guys.

Woking all over the world.

Hopefully i've got a beautiful Madras Chicken curry on the go.

Friday Soup

Start on Wednesday: Dice a large zucchini, crush a clove or two of garlic, put them in a shallow bowl and cover them with olive oil, marinate for two days
On Friday after work: Cook some noodles in broth, penne or elbow macaroni are best. The noodles are supposed to soak up the broth, cook them a bit more than al dente.
Peel and slice a large carrot
Peel and slice a large onion
Add carrot and onion to the noodles while they are sopping up the broth
Fry the zucchini, using some of the marinade oil
Add the zucchini with the oil to the noodles/carrot/onion soup
Cook until the carrots are beginning to get tender

You should end up with a minimum of liquid and saturated noodles with half-crunchy vegetables.

This is the basic recipe, you can use your imagination, adding mushrooms, bacon, cabanossi sausage, squid if you are that way inclined, pep it up with wasabi, use chili in the marinade instead of garlic etc.

Not bad as a starter. What's for the main course?

Seconds.

Ok, no problem. But hopefully not served as breakfast too.

Cream of Onion Soup with Breznknödeln

Breznknödeln:

• Go to the Wiesn, buy 3 large pretzels, eat some with your 2 Maß or so, take the leftovers home
• Two days later, cut the pretzels into chunks, you should have about two handfuls
• Heat 250ml of milk until lukewarm, pour over the pretzels in a large mixing bowl, let stand app. 10 mins, stirring occasionaly
• Dice a small onion as finely as possible, sautée in butter, add to pretzel mixture
• Season with salt, parsley and pepper, add 1 egg and mix (possibly add some ground bread crumbs to acheive the correct consistency)
• Let stand for app. 10 mins, the dough should be sticky with no spare liquid oozing out
• Bring salt water to boil in a large, high-sided pot, form Knödel (with wet hands to prevent sticking), let them cook at an almost rolling boil for app. 10 - 15 mins
• Drain, serve in a covered bowl to prevent dehydration

Cream of Onion Soup:

• Thinly slice 1 large Bermuda onion
• In a large saucepan sautée the onion in 3 tablespoons butter until it just loses its crispness
• Add 1/2 cup of flour, stir until you have a lump of onion/butter/flour about the size of a baseball/cricket ball
• Remove the pan from the burner, add app. 400ml milk (or half milk/half light cream)
• Return the pan to the burner, bring to a slow boil
• Add app. 500ml hot vegetable broth, season with paprika, pepper and nutmeg
• If you like it hot add a teaspoon of creamy horseradish from a jar
• Let the soup simmer for 10 mins
• Serve with the Knödeln

Makes 6 medium Knödel and 4 helpings of soup, even tastes good cold

Today it is a little gloomy so baked goods always brighten up our home therefore I am baking a Mississippi Mud Cake right now. Good for those chocolate lovers! I just posted recipe before seeing this so go to http://www.ehow.com/how_4519191_mississipp...ke-scratch.html

I am also making orange pork chops tonite

InstructionsDifficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:
4 Pork chops
1 cup Blended Oil
1 Onion (diced)
1/4 cup Orange juice (no pulp)
1 tbsp Grated orange rind
2 tbsp Honey
Lowry seasoning salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Step1Season pork chops with lowry seasoning salt and pepper to taste. Then brown with blended oil in a skillet.

Step2Add onions to skillet when pork chops are almost cooked. Cook onions until they are brown, too.

Step3Add remaining ingredients to pork chops in the skillet and cover. Cook on low heat for approximately 45 minutes.

Step4Serve orange pork chops over cooked white rice along with vegetable of choice.

A Hamburgian tradition
Birnen-Bohnen-Speck

I shudder at the very thought of BBS. There are limits to integration...

LOL, I've never even tasted it, let alone cooked it. But I am TRYING here, HEM! Hubby is a Hamburger. Normally I cook Mediterranean style, but I figure when in Rome... er, uh, Hamburg.

So is my wife originally (later grew up in Husum). I prefer Krabben mit Bratkartoffeln... (slobber...)

Tuesday is risotto-day around my place, Cat has watched me cooking it often before, last week we went through it step by step. This week, it's her turn, and I just realized that the only white wine I have at home is a fairly pricy (for my means) pinot grigio ...

I made tom yum soup yesterday and have leftovers. Then, assuming that's not enough to keep me going through yet another trip to the fucking Wiesn (next year I'll actually refuse some of these invitations ...), I shall eat oatmeal. My grocery shopping yesterday was not what you'd call exhaustive.

Broccoli and boiled potatoes with cheddar cheese sauce - yummy!!!

You're my kind of person.
*broccoli, droooooool*
P.S. Try gorgonzola next time!

I just came back from Sardinia, tonight I will have "Spaghetti con la Bottarga" (Spaghetti with Botargo)

* 300 gr botargo of grey mullet
* 4 bay leaves
* 4 spoons of olive oil (extravergine)
* 500 gr of cherry tomatoes (absolutely not the dutch ones!)
* 500 gr of spaghetti

Put the oil in a big pan, add the bay leaves and the tomatoes (sliced in little pieces/cubes). Cook for 10 minutes.
Cook the spaghetti (al dente of course), put them in the pan and add the grated botargo. Mix thoroughly and serve very hot.

----------------------------

Tim are you reading?! This is for you:
- Add salt in the water
- Put the spaghetti in the water when it is boiling
- Don't answer the telephone
- Cook the spaghetti for exactly the time written on the box or in your case one minute less.
- No Parmesan cheese for God's sake!

german spouses especially seem to appreciate this one

Gulaschsuppe

3 T vegetable oil
a few strips of breakfast bacon, or a small package of chopped bacon (to your taste)
500g gulasch meat (I like the beef and pork mixed)
garlic pepper and paprika to taste
1 small onion, chopped

throw everything together in a pot and fry until the meat is browned on all sides

add one 320g jar of Tomatenpaprika to the pot (including juices!!) and let it boil for a minute or two
fill up the empty jar 2x with water and add to the pot, throw in one beef bouillon cube, 2 bay leaves, 1 can of corn

bring to a boil and let it simmer covered for about 1.5 hours.
Throw in 2 very large tablespoons of Klarer Bratensaft (I use the one from Knorr), and simmer for another hour or so.
You may need to add a little bit more water as it simmers if it boils down too much. I'd warn against adding salt because the bratensaft is already pretty salty.
Enjoy!

So I have been trying to make "German" things... normally I cook Mediterranean style. Tonight part of the menu was kohlrabi (not commonly available in CA, except at specialty shops/ farmer's markets), sauteed. I wasn't super impressed. Does anyone have any fabulous recipes for it?

Kohlrabi is best eaten raw with a thick slice of Holzofenbrot spread with butter half an inch thick. If you really have to cook it try a sharp cheese/horseradish sauce or Gorgonzola sauce. Or make it au gratin with breadcrumbs sprinkled over the cheese for a bit of crunch.

Tonight will be : smoked salmon with some ruccola served with toasts and some homemade mayo. Steack filet with a gratin dauphinois and some green beans. Dessert is a tarte tatin. I have been cooking since this morning and hope my guests will like the food.

Homemade Russian vegetable soup (adapted to my fridge contents):
Melt 50g of butter in a large saucepan and simmer on a low heat the following veggies with the lid on for 10 minutes:
2 carrots sliced
6-10 large mushrooms sliced
a head of broccoli sliced
1 medium onion diced
4 medium-sized potatoes diced

Meanwhile boil 1.2 litres of water and make a stock. Pour this liquid over the veggies, and seasoning, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, mixed herbs (I add basil, oregano, chili, paprika) and bring to the boil then let simmer for 30 minutes.

Take off heat and let cool. Liquidise to your preferences (I prefer a bit chunky so don't do it fully) and add a small pot of creme fraiche if you want. I also add some tabasco sauce and Worcestershire sauce here for extra flavour.

Reheat and serve.

Prawn and Pea Risotto

Fry off a chopped leek and/or onion and a couple of garlic cloves
Add the risotto rise - I use arborio - aout a generous handful per person
Add stock slowly till you reach a nice 'creamy' risotto - feeling virtous today as using my own homemade!! Need to be careful about seasoning - no salt if a preprepared stock - homemade may need more
A slug or too of white wine/martini or sherry can be added here
Then add the prawns and peas and heat through
Finish with a generous shaving of parmesan and season well

Will be ready shortly!!!

Enjoy

-Kohlrabi greens and fresh spinach sauteed, EVOO, pine nuts, lemon, S/P
-some sort of German fish, sauteed, fresh herbs from garden
-Zwiebelkuchen, purchased (I made it once in CA, and was unimpressed so I decided to try someone else's this time)
-Roter Sauser, Italian early red wine (Traubenmost)

Using kohlrabi greens was an "experiment" -- pretty good!

actually could also do with a wee squeeze of lemon juice,

otherwise sehr lecker!

"Ris cun l'erborin" (rice and parsley)

This is a soup and belongs to the lombard tradition, something we (italians) are going to loose.
It's very simple.

Ingredients for persons.

150 g, of rice for soups
1 potato
50 g. parsley
25 g. butter
1.5 l meat broth
salt
grated Grana Padano cheese

Mince the parsley (not to much).
Cut the potato in little cubes.
When the broth is boiling add the potato and the rice, adjust the salt and let it cook for 15 minutes, Stir, but not too often.
It's a soup, thus in case it is too dry add some more broth.
Add the parsley, the butter and cook for other 5 minutes.
Serve hot, add the cheese.

Two things you need to know about Kohlrabi: Make sure the leaves are fresh when you buy it.
You have to make sure that it is not woody. I don't know how you can tell in advance whether it is woody or not.

When peeling, you need to cut quite a bit at the top where the leaves are. If you find you are getting resistance when peeling then just throw it out. There is nothing worse than having bits of woody Kohlrabi in your mouth.

This is what I do. When I have peeled the Kohlrabi I cut it, like chips, with the most wonderful kitchen "helper" ever, my Börner. It is lethal but, used with the utmost of care, the best thing since sliced bread .. great for cutting leaks. It slices wafer-thin tomatoes too

Anyway back to the Kohlrabi. I don't drain it. I just make a (very thick) white sauce and pour it over the cooked Kohlrabi mixing it with the water left over.

The first time I cooked it I thought: if there is such a thing as "melt-in-your-mouth" veggy, this is it.

The smaller ones tend to be less woody. (I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere).

We only eat kohlrabi raw and even our 12 yr old who hates fruit and veg loves it.