Koetbollar
Swedish Meatballs
This is a dish I know from Ikea Restaurant. I know Ikea is selling the Instant Package for the Sauce but we hated it. So I googled around. I found this recipe on a german page and tried it first time around christmas when my stepson was here from Germany. All loved it so it's a keeper. I am translating this now for you.
This is what you need:
- 1 lbs mixed ground meat (half beef, half pork)
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 TBS Bread crumbs
- 5 TBS Milk
- 1 Egg
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 250 ml (1 cup) Vegetable Broth
- 200 ml heavy whipping cream (or Crema Media in can)
- 1 TSP Corn Starch mixed with water
- 1 small Onion or a TBSP of granulated Onion
- Chives
- Salt
This is how you do it:
Dice the onion and pan fry it on medium heat with 1 TBSP of Butter until translucent. In the meantime, mix in a bowl the meat, Bread crumbs, Egg, Milk and salt. Now add the Onions. Form with wet hands the meatballs.
In a saucepan, add either Butter or Oil and fry on medium heat the meatballs from all sides for around 8 - 10 min.. Remove from the pan and keep them warm (in a 350 degree oven for example)
Now either fry the onion in the pan from the Meatballs or if you use Onion Powder, skip this step. When the Onion is translucent, add the Vegetable Broth and the cream. Now you add the Onion powder if you use this option. Let it simmer for a min or 2. Make a slurry with the corn starch and water and add to the sauce, constantly stir. Now salt it to your taste. If the sauce got to thick, just add more Vegetable broth (or chicken broth since I didn't have more Vegetable). Add chives to taste and feeling.
Put the Meatballs back into the sauce and let simmer for a min..
Perfect to this dish is mashed Potatoes and Lingonberry Marmelade.
Guten Appetit
Chicken in Banana Leaves
We live in Florida. We have Banana Trees in our backyard. Husband and I watch a lot of
cooking shows and they use Banana leaves to wrap stuff in it all the time. Basically everything
you would wrap in Aluminium Foil you can wrap in a Banana leave. Its more economical and
gives it a slight earthy flavor. The meat stays juice too. If you don't have Banana Trees in your backyard or someone with Trees, you can find them in the frozen section of your grocery store.
You can use whatever recipe you like and wrap it in the Leave. For a start, you can try this chicken recipe.
This is what you need:
- Chicken drums
- 1 TBSP Annatto Seeds (or Chili powder)
- 1 TSP whole Peppercorns
- 4 Allspice
- 1/2 TSP dried Oregano
- 1/4 TSP cumin seeds
- 1 TSP finely shredded Orange Peel
- 3/4 cup Orange juice
- Salt
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 cup chopped Onions (1/2 big one)
This is how you do it:
Put all the spices in a spice grinder (like a coffee bean grinder) . Add the Orange juice, peel, onion and garlic along with the chicken drums in a large zip lock bag. Add the spices and marinade it for 6-12 hrs..
Remove the chicken from the marinade and wrap them in Banana leaves. You can put up to 2 in one leave. I put just one in though. Lay them on a oven tray.
Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit bake for 1 hrs
I served Peanut Butter sauce with it and rice. Was very tasty.
Guten Appetit
Gluehwein, white
Warm spiced wine is a typical thing us germans do in Winter. Especially at those famous
Christmas Markets. It's easy to make yourself. The one Aldi is offering though is terrible.
If you tried that one and you didn't like it, I don't blame you. But don't take that as they all
taste like this.
Biggest rule in cooking in general is: use the wine you would drink!!!! So, if the recipe says
for dry wine and you like Moscato (like me), use Moscato. When you can't stand sweet wine,
don't use it just because the recipe says so.
Usually for Gluehwein they use dry wine and add sugar. Why not use a sweet wine already?
Again, if you don't like sweet wine, use the dry and add as much sugar as you can tolerate.
For my recipe I use Moscato. It works with red and white wine. But instead of Apple juice for
the white Gluehwein, use Orange juice for the red Gluehwein.
This is what you need:
- 1 bottle of your preferred wine (in my case, Moscato) (add 3 TBSP Sugar to dry)
- 300 ml of organic Apple juice
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 Star Anise
- 3 Cloves
- 2 slices of Orange
This is how you do it:
Combine everything in a large sauce pan. Heat up but don't let it boil. Remove all hard parts
and enjoy your hot Gluehwein on a cold winter day.
Guten Appetit
Pan Vegetables
This is an invention from me. I had this recipe with just eggplant, potatoes and Zuccini but I
thought I can pimp this up a bit. So I did lol.
This is what you need:
- Raw, peeled and diced Potatoes
- Zuccini, diced (if you don't like them, keep them out)
- Eggplant, diced (also, don't use when you don't like them)
- 1 Bell pepper
- 1 glove Garlic
- Chili for the heat (as much as you can take on heat)
- smoked wurst like Kielbasa or Cabanosi
- sour cream with herbs (like Aldi is selling)
- 1-2 peeled tomatoes, seeds out
This is how you do it:
Basically what it is, all Vegetables you like just dice and pan fry them soft with a bit oil. You can add smoked sausage, but you don't need to. The Garlic should be the last thing added since it burns fast.
At the very end, salt and pepper and add sour cream with herbs until its nice and creamy. The Tomatoes are giving it a bit liquid and freshness.
I usually just eat it like this but it's also tasty to steak.
Guten Appetit
Star of Bethlehem
Vogelmilch
This is a very common dish from the germans in Romania. No matter if Siebenbuergen or
Banat. In romanian it's called Lapte de pasare. In german Vogelmilch what literally translates to Bird Milk. It's a semi sweet dessert you enjoy when it's luke warm or cold
This is what you need:
- 1 l (4 cups) of milk
- 3 Eggs, devided
- 4 TBSP Sugar
- 1 Vanilla bean or substitude with a TSP Vanilla extract
- 1 pinch of salt
This is how you do it:
Bring the milk, Vanilla bean and salt to a boil. Whip the Egg whites until they stiff peaks.
When the milk is boiling, use a TBSP and cut little clouds of egg white and put them gently into
the hot milk. Boil for a minute then turn them around for another 30 sec.. Remove from the milk
and put them in a bowl.
Whip the Egg yolk with the sugar until creamy. Add the mixture to the milk and stir constantly until
it's thickening.
Let the vanilla sauce sit for a bit to cool off. Then add them to the Egg white clouds and enjoy.
Guten Appetit
General Tsao Chicken
This Recipe I got from a friend. It was a life saver after a long day outside the house and was
done quick. And soooooo yum. Give it a try. You will never buy this processed sauce again. (I didn't like it at all) I made double portion for mine but I will write the normal portion recipe here.
It's up to you to prepare it upfront and freeze the half for later use.
This is what you need:
- 1/3 cup Rice Vinegar
- 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 2/3 cup Water
- 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
- 1 TBSP Ketchup
- 2 TBSP Corn Starch
- 1/3 TSP Ground Ginger
- 1/4 TSP Chili Flakes
-
around 6 Chicken Drums
This is how you do it:
Put all Ingredients in a big bowl and let simmer until it thickens.
Dust the chicken drums with flour and pan fry it brown from both sides. Add the Sauce to it and let simmer on low heat for around 1/2 hrs..
Serve with Rice, Sesame seeds and spring Onions.
My friend made them in the slow cooker. She added the sauce after browning the Chicken and turned it on high for 2 1/2 hrs.. But I couldn't wait , soooo ;-)
Guten Appetit
Farfalle with bell peppers and Eggplant
Farfalle al ragu d'estate
This dish is super easy, healthy and light. I substituted the Eggplant with Zuccini since my Husband doesn't like Eggplant. Feel free to use both if you like it.
This is what you need:
- 350 gr Farfalle Pasta
- 1 Eggplant and or 1/2 Zuccini
- 150 gr Mozzarella
-
1/2 yellow Bell Pepper
-
1/2 red Bell Pepper
-
one small bunch of Basil
-
1 Small bunch of Parsley
- 3 hard ripe Tomatoes
- 5 TBSP Olive Oil
- Oregano, Salt and Pepper
This is how you do it:
Cook the Pasta like Package says.
Cut the Eggplant in stripes and put them in a Colander with salt. The eggplant will start "sweating" and you can wipe off the water. It's the bitterness you remove this way.
Cut the Mozzarella in little cubes.
Cut all the vegetables into little stripes. Cut little crosses on top and bottom of the Tomatoes. Put them in a bowl and add boiling water over them. Let sit for around 30 sec.. Now get them out of the hot water and shock them with ice cold water. The skin will come off easy now. Once you peeled the
Tomatoes, cut them into halves and remove the seeds. Now cut them into stripes as well.
Add 3 Tbsp of the Olive oil and fry the Eggplant in it with a bit salt and pepper. Remove from the pan. If you don't use Eggplant, skip this step.
Now add the rest of the Olive Oil and the Bell Peppers and Zuccini (if you use it) and brown it for 3-4 minutes. Now add the Eggplant and the Tomatoes back into the pan. Season with Salt and Pepper and simmer on low heat for 5-6 minutes. Stir ocessionaly. At the end, add the Oregano, Parsley and Basil.
Add the cooked Pasta straight into the Sauce and mix it well. Serve on a plate and add the Mozzarella cheese at the very end. (if you don't want a hot mess like on my picture because I added it into the cooking sauce lol)
Guten Appetit
