Imagine Yourself in a Bavarian Beer Garden

You probably have heard of the Bavarian beer garden ("Biergarten") which you can actually find all over Germany. But somehow we always picture beer garden in Bavaria - they probably have most of them. The beer garden is very casual - you sit on very simple benches at long tables. Often you share the table with other people - friends and strangers - which is a great way to get to know new people and have fun. You can also eat in a beer garden, often the local cuisine with mainly more simple meals. It is not fine dining, but the food usually is excellent. (I'm still practicing my food photography - it's not perfect at all, well, far from that actually. It's perfectly imperfect - and hits this week's Texture Tuesday's theme, which is "perfectly imperfect"...)

Processed with Kim's texture "kk_evolve" in soft light at 100%

Obatzter is one of the beer garden food, and I have to say that it is my favorite. It has lots of calories, of course - everything I really like to eat is certainly not on the light side! Obatzter is made of very ripe Camembert and butter, onions, spices and a little bit of beer. It is actually very easy to make - you just have to find the right Camembert.

On Sunday I made some Obatzter because I felt like eating it - it was a warm day and I had this beer garden feeling. I had baked some Bauernbrot (farmers bread), we still had two bottles of Bavarian Hefeweizen, I had some very ripe Camembert - nothing could stop me!

I can tell you, it was delicious!

If you feel daring, or you once went to Bavaria and had some Obatzter and would like to make it from scratch, or perhaps you're just curious - here's the recipe. Sorry, it's in metric measurements.

You need:
- 250g very ripe Camembert
- 50g soft butter
- 2 tbsp light beer
- 1 small onion
- 1 tsp paprika, sweet
- a trace of ground caraway
- pepper and salt
- a bunch of chives

You may remove the rind of the Camembert if it is "too ripe". Mash with a fork. Stir in butter and beer.
Add finely chopped onion. Add paprika, caraway, pepper and a little salt.
Put the cheese on a plate and top with chopped chives.
Serve with fresh farmers bread or soft pretzel (if you can get real Laugenbrezeln where you live, that would be my choice)

Enjoy!!