Winter Dishes

 

Cheese fondue

Today I decided that winter is over - even though we are in the middle of a cold spell that still gives us warm sunny days but chilly nights, mornings and evenings. However, there are so many signs of spring around us that we really can't talk about winter anymore, at least not in this corner of the world.

Therefore, it's time to talk about what we ate in winter. Winter dishes are often a bit heartier than meals during the rest of the year. It seems that the short days and cold nights make us long for more comfort and warmth, and food is just the thing to give us both.

Our traditional New Year's Eve food is cheese fondue. We used to eat it with chunks of bread, but recently we discovered a healthier way to enjoy it - with roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts. It is 100% delicious and we didn't miss the bread one bit!

Baked spanakopita pasta with greens and feta

We love pasta and certainly had our fair share of it over the winter. A lot of these meals were new recipes that I tried out, most of them published in the New York Times. But we also enjoyed old favorites again.

Tortellini with caramelized onions and mushrooms and spinach

Baked spinach artichoke pasta

Lemon chicken with mushrooms and orechiette, an old favorite

Especially in winter I include a lot of veggies in our meals. My favorite place to buy fresh local veggies is the farmers market, but since it is taking place on Saturday mornings I usually cannot go there since I teach that time. However, if there is a Saturday when I don't have to teach I go to the market and my fridge drawer for the veggies is filled to the brim after that.

When I made meatballs I used to take store bought ones, but when I saw a recipe for pork meatballs that are made with ginger, fish sauce and crushed Ritz crackers I had to try that. I paired them with roasted aspargus (a recipe my lovely neighbor gave me) - what can I say? It was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.

And since I had fresh ginger in the house I made this gingery fried rice with bok choy and mushrooms - that is going to be a new favorite! In addition to everything in the recipe I added some lemon zest and scrambled an egg in at the end. It is cooked in a wok and everything comes together fast and easy.

For the first time I tried Trout Armandine, a recipe I found in our local paper. I first couldn't find trout fillets, but then Trader Joe's started to carry frozen ones - fine with me. I was a bit nervous making these - there really was no need for that, they turned out fine and were super yummy. I will certainly try more dishes with trout fillets.

What about a cheesy spicy black bean bake? Perfect on a cold evening.

Or creamy gnocchi with sundried tomatoes and basil (a family favorite)?

We do like cauliflower - a lot. I'm always on the look-out for new recipes. I found a delicious recipe for roasted garlic parmesan cauliflower. An entire stick of butter goes into the crust - it's heaven! I paired it with Kibbeh, a new item at Trader Joes's that I simply had to try since I love Middle Eastern food (it's good, I can recommend it).

I had quite some leftover of the butter-garlic-parmesan mix. A couple days later I dipped cubes of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in it and "threw" them in a stir-fry with rice noodles and veggies. The remaining leftovers (yes, there still was quite some left) went on top of Alaskan sockeye salmon that I then baked and served with roasted carrots and zucchini a few days later.

My last dish is something that I made just this weekend - leftovers will be served sometime this week. It's a coq au vin rosé - the lighter wine makes it perfect for other seasons as well.

What is your favorite winter food?

Chili Mac for Chilly Days

Our winter has been one of the wettest in recent years - which, on the one hand is good news as it puts an end to the four-year drought in most of our state. Today I read that nevertheless the California State Water Resources Control Board extended out state's emergency drought regulations at least until May which I think is very wise. On the other hand, so much rain has brought a lot of flooding and mud slides - and, of course, many gray and rather chilly days.

In order to beat the chill I cook chili - sort of. A couple years ago I found a recipe for this Southwest skillet chili mac, and it quickly has become a family favorite. The recipe says to put beef in it, and it certainly is delicious with it. However, since Kaefer has become a pescatarian and I also want to cut down on meat consumption, I have been re-thinking many of my recipes. This recipe is perfect for a filling vegetarian meal.

Here's what you need:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, finely diced
• 2 red bell peppers, diced
• 3-5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• 1 can diced tomatoes with liquid (14.5 oz)
• 1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
• 1 1/2 c water
• 1 can corn, drained (15.25 oz)
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (15 oz)
• 1 1/2 c uncooked macaroni
• 1 1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Heat the oil over medium low heat in a large cast iron skillet, dutch oven or oven-safe saute pan.

Add the onions and peppers and cook until beginning to soften (about 4 minutes), then add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.

Add the chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper, and mix well.

Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, water, corn, beans and macaroni, mixing well.

Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the past is just tender.

Stir in half of the cheese, then sprinkle the rest on top and put it in the top third of your oven with the broiler on 400 F (200 C) and allow the cheese to brown. Then serve.

We like to eat tortilla chips with it, and - don't forget the wine!!!

The Soup Season Has Begun

Winter is soup season! Soup is such a great comfort food.

I make my soups in my big Dutch oven where it can simmer for hours and fill the house with delicious flavors that make everybody hungry. Is there anything better than gathering at the table for a big pot of soup and some rustic bread (preferable homemade)? My mom used to make a wonderful potato soup with some very hearty sausage in it. We loved that soup, but unfortunately the recipe is lost. This is something that still bugs me, that my mom's recipes disappeared after she had died.

However, only a few weeks ago my blogging friend Ginnie mentioned her son's potato sausage soup on her blog. She also included a photo of the soup which reminded me of my mom's soup. It looked so super delicious that I asked her whether I can have the recipe. She sent it to me a day later.

A couple days ago I tried it for the first time - and gosh, was it good! No, it wasn't exactly like my mom's potato soup, but it had pretty much the same ingredients - especially the sausage!!! Although it is a different kind of sausage (Germany is the sausage nation of the world, there are so many kinds that you can't expect to find anywhere else) it has the same heartiness. Just yummy, and wonderful on a winter's evening. If you like cornbread, go for it. We love to eat rustic country bread with it.

The soup is my find of this week and worth a post for Friday Finds! This is definitely a keeper. Ginnie has graciously given me permission to post the recipe here.

Potato Sausage Soup

Ingredients:

1 large onion

4-6 medium/large potatoes

4-6 stalks of celery

6-8 large carrots

1 pound of sausage (Polska Kielbasa)

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup of sour cream

salt

paprika (I used smoked paprika)

Instructions:

Cut sausage into 1/2" sections

Chop onion and saute in water (cover bottom of pot).  Add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp paprika to onions as they cook on medium heat.

Add sausage to onions and simmer covered while you cut up the rest of the vegetables.

Cut celery and carrots into small pieces.  (optionally peel) potatoes and cut into cubes 1" or so.

Add veggies to sausage and onions.  Add 2 bay leaves.

Add just enough water to cover everything, 6-8 cups.

Add 2 tsp salt.

Bring to a boil and then simmer covered until veggies are done (easily pierced with a fork)

Once veggies are cooked, and before you are ready to serve, dip out one or two cups of the hot soup broth (just broth, no veggies or meat) and add 1/2 cup of sour cream to the hot broth.  Stir up thoroughly to mix sour cream with the broth.  Then pour that mixture back with the rest of the soup and mix well.

Soup is ready to serve.  Goes very well with cornbread muffins!

Keep refrigerated and before reheating skim off the solidified fat from the top of the soup (looks orange!)

There is only one thing to add: ENJOY!!!

Game Day

We're not football fans. Or let me rephrase that, we're not American football fans. Football for us is actually played with the feet and a round ball - yes, you call it soccer here. We call it Fussball. Germans are passionate about Fussball and their teams, and they share this passion with many other countries who have excellent Fussball teams, like Mexico, Brazil, Italy and Spain (sorry England I didn't mention you here, we're kind of the arch rivals, aren't we?). I remember the day Kaefer was baptized, there was the final of the World Cup in the evening, between France and Brazil, and to our big surprise it was my two old aunts who really wanted to see the game and were really nervous about it. They knew every single player, knew all the rules, and they were happy as a clam when the entire big family gathered in front of the TV to watch the game (France won that year).

We never ever got excited about the Super Bowl. Super Bowl for us translated to an empty ice rink which means both the geek and Kaefer headed out there with their ice skates. This year we at least knew that the San Francisco 49ers were playing - after all, we're living in the North Bay. I even knew that the other team was the Baltimore Ravens - that's a first for me.

But we still didn't plan on watching the game. Heck, we don't even have a TV channel where we could watch it! We have ONE TV channel, yes, that is ONE, uno, eins, un, yi, ichi. But when Kaefer and I went baby clothes shopping this afternoon we suddenly had the idea to at least get the chips for the Super Bowl. Which we did. With a hint of lime.

Oh, they were so good.

And then my daughter became a bit nervous. She reminded me of my two old aunts at her baptism. She suddenly wanted to know how the Niners were doing. She knows about football, she has been to a few of her high school games. She actually has played football in PE. But what to do without a proper TV channel?

Well, she has a geek as a dad, right? And of course there was some device - a laptop in this case - that would bring the game into our home. There they sat, father and daughter, watching the game. They started to watch the game shortly before the power went out in the Big Easy. When the Niners caught up. But to Kaefer's huge disappointment in the end it was the Ravens who won.

And of course, the chips were gone as well.