Archive for ‘Tools & Techniques’

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October 1, 2006

And on the 42nd Day there was an Oven…


When I got the description of my apartment, two days before I moved into it, it said “2 Zimmer mit Küchennutzung” (two rooms and use of kitchen). Usually, this means the kitchen is shared with other people who live on the same floor, or you have access to someone else’s kitchen. However, upon arrival I discovered I do have a kitchen of my own, but I share it with the house owner’s guests: their guest room is in my apartment. So, while most of the time the kitchen is mine, and I can keep it to the clean standards I require of myself (as one of the Fulbrighters here mentioned, I’m a “neat-freak” when it comes to the kitchen), I do have to share the kitchen every once in a while. So far this has happened once, and it was a very pleasant experience. I’m glad, because whenever someone comes and stays in the guest room, I have company and am not living entirely alone. I’m still getting used to the silence that seems to creep in with the setting sun.

There are two major draw-backs to my lovely Amelie kitchen: 1) the stove is a double hot plate that I plug into the wall when I want to use it, and 2) there is no oven. I’ve been able to adapt to the “stove” and have created very good meals, despite my lack of frying pans (which I’m working on). The oven, however, has been a different story. The teachers at the school have been very helpful in giving me items I need – I got an iron from one teacher, another is letting me borrow a television for the year, and a third has given me the mini toaster-oven the language assistant before me had (she stayed in the same apartment as I am in). I just got the oven this past week, and have been very excited to try it out. The teacher who gave me the iron also brought in an entire bucket of plums to school on Friday, after bringing in a plum tart on Wednesday. She threatened that if we teachers didn’t take the plums home, there would never be any more plums or plum tarts for us to enjoy. Being excited about free fresh fruit, and a bit afraid of the wrath that could ensue if I didn’t help myself, I took a bowlful home with me. I gave a good third of them to the visitor who was staying in the guest room, as she was leaving that day and I wanted to give her something for the train ride, and the rest I ate on my own. They have been a really good healthy snack alternative to the pieces of chocolate I’ve been eating lately, even though I have to admit they don’t quite replace the cocoa goodness!

I ate all of them except for about twenty, which I turned into a mini plum tart of my own, after my mother’s, and grandmother’s, recipe. I eye-balled the measurements (I didn’t bring any American measuring devices with me and have yet to buy a kitchen scale) and managed to make some sort of a dough, placed the plums on top, sprinkled it with a tasty streusel, and went to my oven to bake it. It was then that I realized that my beautiful, shiny, silver oven only has one temperature setting: and I have no idea what it is. I can only set the top or bottom heating elements to be on and how long it should bake.

Rather than break down in tears, which a part of me threatened to do, I decided to hope it was the standard 180 degrees centigrade (about 350 degrees farenheit), stuck my tart in, and crossed my fingers. I’m not sure if it was because the tart was a quarter the size it usually should be, or if the oven is a lot hotter than I had hoped, but the tart was done in about twelve minutes. I haven’t tasted it yet – I’m getting company today and was hoping to have a traditional German Sunday “Kaffee und Kuchen” – so I have no idea how it came out. My poor guest will have to be the guinea pig!

I think I am going to have to invest in an oven thermometer, just so I know what temperature at which I’m actually baking things. In the meantime, I’m already scheming how I’m going to fit a mini-turkey into my mini oven at Thanksgiving…

Zwetschgenkuchen

Note: I actually prefer this kuchen with fresh, tart apples, thinly sliced and placed in rows on top of the tart dough, then also sprinkled with streusel. Either way it’s very good served with a bit of whipped cream (sweetened or not, as you like) and coffee or tea.

1 3/4 cups flour
ca. 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup + a couple Tbsp (unsalted!) butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract (the real stuff folks, not the imitation!)
1 egg

Measure the flour, sugar, and baking powder into a pile on a clean counter or cutting board. Cut the butter into the flour mixture, making small pea-sized pieces. Add vanilla and egg and knead into a dough with your hands. If it is too dry, add a bit more butter.

For the streusel:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
ca. 1 stick (unsalted!) butter
ca. 1/2 tsp cinnammon (can be more if you like)

Again, cut the butter into the flour/sugar mixture and then mix the cinnammon in with your fingertips until there are loose, small clumps.

Roll the dough out thinly on a clean surface and place onto a baking sheet (the kind that has edges, not the flat cookie sheet kind). Cut plums down the edge of one side, open and remove the pit. Place plums in rows onto the dough, then top with streusel. Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for about 30 minutes (checking regularly). The tart should not get browned, but should be done all the way.

Posted in Baking, Breads, & Pastries, Tools & Techniques | 2 Comments »

September 29, 2006

Spätzle and Kitchen Knives

I promised to write an entry on spätzle (see previous post), so here it is.I managed to flatten my spätzlebrett, which I then took to Dresden last weekend where some of my fellow Fulbrighters and I made Kässpätzle, spätzle baked with cheese and topped with caramelized onions.I also had promised them the recipe for spätzle, which I had forgotten until last night when I was celebrating the purchase of my very own knives with a spätzle dinner.

Buying kitchen knives has been a difficult process and has taken me over a month and a half.It has been so tempting to reach for the 100+ Euro knife sets that were on sale by Zwilling and Henkel and WMF (a German knife and kitchen supply company that makes my mouth drool).I have decided that if I win a million dollars, I would first put aside enough money to put a WMF-outfitted kitchen in my dream home, and then give the rest to charity.I’m not exactly sure what my dream kitchen would look like, but I know it would have every utensil and appliance I would ever need (within reason of course), including – but not limited to: a food processor, a kitchen aid, a stove (preferably with oven!), and a “woosh-woosh thingy” (those blender sticks that are so handy for soups, milkshakes, frozen juice concentrate, and anything else that needs a quick “woosh-wooshing”).And, of course, my kitchen would have the ultimate: a tool whose only purpose is to scrape off dough that is stuck on the counter after kneading it.That, my dear friends, is a priceless tool.No knife can come near its efficiency in scraping dried dough and flour mixtures off of granite or linoleum!

However, I am getting off topic:the knives.It hurt very much to go to Karstadt, Germany’s biggest department store chain, and pass all the beautiful shiny knife sets to go to the hidden “Back Shelf of Shame” and buy the cheap non-brand-name knives.Of course, it’s just not practical to be buying the shiny amazing knife sets because I have no idea when I will stop moving around and be in one place for a long period of time.And it really is silly to be carrying around a knife block that weighs half as much as my baggage allowance on international flights.So, I picked out three rather nice-looking knives: a large chopping knife, a smaller chopping knife, and (I just couldn’t resist) a small serrated knife for tomatoes from WMF’s beginner’s line.

All three proved to be decent knives last night when I got to work peeling, chopping, and cutting mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and more for my dinner.As I sat down to eat dinner, including my first green salad since I got here (I have resisted buying a salad spinner, without which I find it very difficult to make salad – but that’s an entry for another day!) I began to think of all the food I can make now in my Amelie Kitchen.Being able to julienne opens up so many possibilities!

Spätzle

Note: this is a very difficult recipe to understand without having actually seen someone “scrape spätzle.” I am attempting to describe the process here, but I will continue to think of ways to improve this recipe and would welcome your advice as well!

Serves 4

500grams Flour
4 Eggs
½ tsp Salt
Water

Crack eggs into bowl, add a dash of water, flour and salt.Beat violently (yes, violently!) with a wooden spoon.When the dough forms bubbles on its own when you stop beating it is ready.

Bring a full pot of saltwater to the boil.Make the spätzlebrett wet with cold water and place a spoonful of spätzle on top.Dip knife into boiling water and then scrape off the spätzle dough in small, thin pieces into the water.After scraping off all the dough from the board, let the spätzle float at the top and then take out with a sieve and place in a casserole dish or an oven-proof bowl.Continue scraping the rest of the spätzle dough in portions, keeping the finished spätzle in a warm oven.

Serving options:

Kässpätzle: sprinkle cheese (Swiss, cheddar, or any other favorite cheese, preferably a sharper, aged cheese) into the spätzle.Caramelize some onion rings and top the cheese/spätzle with them.Place in 350۫ F oven until cheese is melted and as crispy as you like.This is a quick and yummy option, especially for singles on a tight budget and time-crunch (once you get the hand of making spätzle of course!).

Spätzle are very tasty, and fancier, served with any roast and topped with a gravy made from the roast’s drippings.

Spätzle can also, as in the photograph, be made with pork chops: brown pork chops on both sides in a pan with olive oil.Remove and keep warm in an oven.In the same pan with the drippings, sauté finely-chopped onions for 2-3 minutes, until clear.Add your favorite mushrooms, sliced, and continue to sauté until the mushrooms’ resulting juices have almost cooked off.Add a dash of white wine, and broth or water (optional), about a teaspoon or two of tomato paste, and seasonings to taste.Allow the alcohol to simmer off, then return the pork chops into the sauce (with the juices that have formed from them) and simmer until done (if the chops are thin, which is recommended, this shouldn’t take long).Serve hot with spätzle and a green salad.

Posted in Noodles, Recipes, Tools & Techniques | 3 Comments »

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