French fries Homemade

                  French fries Homemade

Hey, so, there were some folks saying to me in disbelief, that I make homemade french fries. Btw, we call them Pommes in Germany from the original Pommes frites. 

Seriously, if you have never tried to make your own fries, you are missing out. I tried it in different ways with oil, air fryer or normal bake. Now that I have an air fryer, I prefer that but second is defiantly the oil version.

Whatever you use, its going to be so much better.

This is what you need:

- Potatoes good for baking and frying (because of the starch)

- spices like salt, pepper, Adobo

This is how you do it:

If you have one of those fancy cutters where you push the Potato through in a whole and get it cut into fries form, go for it. I have one too and use it. But you can also half the potato and put it with the cut side down and then slice it into finger thick fries. 

I like to water it for at least 30 min and then rinse it and pat dry. So the excessive starch is gone. 

Once its dry, lay it evenly on your air fryer sheet ( i have one with a rack so the air can circulate around it evenly) and spray it either with oil or, like me, add oil to the bowl first before you lay them out on the sheet. Bake on 400 degrees for around 25-30 min or until golden brown. Take them out and season immediately. You could use just salt or you could season it with Adobo. I am telling you, the bomb. Germans like to make a fries seasoning with some garlic powder and a tiny bit of Paprika.

If you want to try the oil version, use a big pan and add just enough oil that it would cover the Potatoes. Once it boils, it will cover them, trust me. You don't want hot oil splashing everywhere. Make sure that they are really dry. Check with a spoon if it bubbles, then the oil is hot enough. Add the Potatoes carefully. Once all in and at a constant heat/bubble, reduce the heat to around a medium. Fry until golden brown for around 25 min.. Stir just occasionally. They will get soft first before they get crunchy. 

Once golden brown, remove from the oil and drip as much oil as you can. Season immediately just like above. 

Enjoy your homemade french fries.

Guten Appetit 

Wurstsalat sausage salad

                   Wurstsalat sausage salad

This is another nice, hearty and cold dish we like to eat with a good beer. Not to mistake it with Fleischsalat (meat salad) which is already on my blog but something different.

This is what you need:

- Bologna 

- Pickles (preferable germans but use your favorite ones)

- red onion or shallot

- Parsley

- Cheese (I like swiss cheese)

- Tomatoes (optional)

- Salt, Pepper

- Pickle juice

- Maggi

- Oil (I like Corn or Canola) 

This is how you do it:

Cut the Bologna in small Julienne style pieces. Same amount on Pickles and cheese, cut the same way or size. Cut the onion in half and slice it very thinly into half rings. Wash the fresh Parsley and also chop it a bit smaller. No need to be exact here. Different sizes or shapes are totally ok. Do the same with the Tomato or you may use some diced Tomatoes from the can.  Now pour in a bowl a good amount of pickle juice so you have like the bottom covered by maybe 1 cm. Season it now with Maggi and some Oil (around 2 TBSP). Just so that the juice can stick to the Ingredients. Add everything to the bowl and mix well. Season with salt and Pepper. Try and see where there should be some adjustments. I usually like a lot of juice so I add more Pickle juice. No wrongs here. 

Let it sit for maybe 30 min so the flavors can develop. 

We like to eat that with a slice of Bread or a Brezel. Or, like my husband, just plain. 

Guten Appetit 

Bibimbap

                              Bibimbap

Bibimbap literally translates to "mixed rice". Everything with bap in the end is basically "with rice". I learned from "my Korean kitchen" that Bibimbap is a nice left over dish. So, you have sticky rice left over, a bit of broccoli, mushrooms, soy beans, meat of any sorts, carrots or whatever you like, you basically add that on a bed of rice all around for good looks. The topping is a sunny side up, runny egg and some sesame seeds. 

The kick here is the sauce. I have 4 different sauce recipes for you. For the actual Bibimbap is no real recipe as you can use your left over veggies. I just removed all other sauces they might have been on and rinse them with water. Including the meat. I had Bolognese sauce left over so I washed the meat with water and just added a bit soy sauce and sesame oil. Same with the vegetables. If they weren't cooked yet, just carefully sauté them in a pan with sesame oil. If you have toasted Seaweed, cut them into strips and add to your vegetables. Makes a nice add on.

 

For the first sauce you need:

- 1/2 cup Gochujang (or less depending on your heat tolerance. Ours is 1 TSP lol)

- 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 1/4 cup water

- 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

- 4 TSP vinegar (apple or rice)

- 4 TSP minced garlic

Mix everything in a bowl together. Add onto your Bibimbap and mix everything together. 

For the second sauce you need:

- 2 TBSP Gochujang (1/4 TSP for us)

- 1 TBSP Sesame  Oil

- 1 TBSP Sugar

- 1 TBSP water

- 1 TBSP roasted sesame seeds

- 1 TSP vinegar (apple or rice)

- 1 TSP minced Garlic

Mix everything together in a bowl

For the third sauce you need:

- 1/2 cup Doenjang (korean soybean paste)

- 1/4 cup water

- 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil

- 1 1/2 TBSP honey

- 2 TBSP toasted sesame seeds

- 1 TBSP minced garlic

Mix everything in a bowl together.

For the forth sauce you need:

- 1/2 cup soy sauce 

- 4 TSP sugar

- 2 TSP toasted sesame oil

- 1 TSP minced Garlic

Mix everything together in a bowl.

Guten Appetit 

Chicken spice mix

                                          Chicken spice mix 

This spice mix is a traditional mix for "Brathaehnchen" or how we like to call it: Nora's chicken. 

- 1/2 TSP salt

- 3/4 TSP Garlic Powder

- 3/4 TSP Onion Powder

- 1 TSP smoked Paprika

Plum Streusel cake

                                          Plum Streusel Cake

This is a traditional Fall cake in Germany since the Plums (or Prunes) are in season. So, this base here you can use for any other fruits though. I already made it with apples and cinnamon but feel free to use whatever you like. 

The Base or Knetteig:

- 175 gr. soft unsalted Butter

- 1 Egg

- 100 gr Sugar

- 300 gr Flour 

- 1 pinch of salt

 

Streusel for topping:

- 150 gr Butter

- 300 gr Flour

- 100 gr Sugar

cinnamon optional

This is how you do it:

Combine all ingredients for the Base in a bowl and mix it with your hands until a solid ball forms.

Set aside.

In another bowl add the 3 ingredients for the Streusel and mix well until you can form little balls with your hands but which fall apart easily.

Get a round spring form and butter it well all around. Preheat your oven to either 350 Fahrenheit or air fryer at 325 Fahrenheit.

Get the Base and push it with your hand palm and fingers onto the bottom of the spring form and a bit up on the side to create a small edge. Now put the fruits on how you desire. Top it with a good amount of the Streusel (my spring from is smaller then the amount of dough I have so don't be surprised if you have left overs)

Bake in the oven for 35-45 min or until the Streusel are slightly brown. Wait with taking the ring of\f of the spring form until its completely cooled down. The fruit juice will make it run away if you do it to early. Now enjoy a piece with some whipped cream.

Guten Appetit 

  

Portobello mushroom Schnitzel

              Portobello mushroom Schnitzel

Finally something "German" again. I think this dish was like a poor people food at one point. In Germany and Italy, we have some really nice big growing Mushrooms, Parasol Mushrooms. I can't find them quite here in Florida, but I found some nice big Portobello mushrooms. I would say, every big mushroom, "meaty" mushroom is doing it. Anyway, in fall we went into the woods, we looked for all kinds of mushrooms like Chantarelles (Pfifferlinge)  and Penny Bun's (Steinpilze). We made them in all kinds of forms as sauce with a dumpling, as sauce for Schnitzel, as sauce for German Pancakes (Crepe). Or as soups and stews. Very yummy and fun to find them first. Family event. I loved it. 

This is what you need:

- 2 big Portobello Mushrooms

- 1 Eggs and some half and half for the breading

- Bread crumps

- Salt, Pepper and Aromat to taste (look in my earlier posts about Aromat. It's a german flavor intensifier)

- Oil for frying pan

This is how you do it: 

Combine the Egg, half and half and season it to your tase. Take the stamps out of the mushrooms. Now coat them good with the Egg wash and then immediately into the bread crumbs. It will get messy. You may use a spoon to help with the egg wash to get it every where on the Mushroom. I breaded it twice. 

In a frying pan, heat up some oil. Turn the heat on medium and add the mushrooms. I did the flat side first. Turn it several times to make sure it gets slightly fried from all sides. You may add some more oil on the go. Once its nicely crisp on both sides, remove from the pan.

We had a sunny side up egg with it and it was delicious. You may also add some Salad with it. 

Guten Appetit 

 

Korean Dipping Sauce

                                                         Korean Dipping Sauce

This is the dipping sauce going with the Kimchi Pancakes. But to be honest, we also used it for the steamed dumplings. Its. so. good. You will love it. Again, credit goes to "My Korean Kitchen". I am not korean and exploring things and her recipes are just spot on delicious. I will do definitely more in the future. 

This is what you need for the Base sauce:

- 2 TBSP raw sugar

- 4 TBSP Soy Sauce

- 4 TBSP Water

- 4 TBSP Rice Vinegar (or white vinegar as substitute) 

For the pimped up sauce:

- 1/4 - 1/2 thinly sliced White Onion

- 1/2 TSP Gochugaru (or chili Flakes since I had none) 

- 1/2 TSP minced Garlic

- 1/2 TSP roasted Sesame Seeds

- 1/2 TSP Sesame Oil 

- 1/2 TSP (heaped) finely chopped green onions

This is how you do it:

Combine the ingredients from the Base sauce. When combined, take like half of it and add the other ingredients to it for the pimped up version. Depending on your spice tolerance, you may vary on the Gochugaru a bit. You can also just add some more if you like heat. I found this very comforting how it is. 

Since my family liked the pimped up version better, I just added everything together and added more onions and the rest as well. 

Now, enjoy it with your dumplings or pancakes or whatever you like. It might even go great with sushi. :-) 

Guten Appetit