This is my aunt's German potato salad which I'm recording here for posterity.
I ate this dish several times a year - always at Christmas and Easter - while I was growing up. As an adult I've tried to recreate it several times - with mixed success. I could never get the dressing right. Then six months ago I found out she used the pickle juice!
This would be easier to make in the US than the UK (where we live) because it's hard to get real dill pickles here - and even hard to find really good sweet pickles. Ah well. At least the bacon here is good!
5 lb bag of potatoes
1 lb of bacon
1 jar of sweet (bread & butter) pickles
1 jar of Kosher dill pickles
1 apple
Boil potatoes until they burst - don't overboil. Pour off water. Cut pickles into tiny cubes. Save water from pickles. Fry bacon. Peal potatoes, slice into pieces the size of little finger. Mix pickles into potatoes. Add one-half jar of pickle water. Add one-third of the bacon fat. Taste and add fat and pickle water until it tastes good. Chop apple and add to potatoes. Serve hot or cold.
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Our German potato salad
We didn't have the right pickles to make Aunt Imme's German potato salad so we came up with this version, which we had all the ingredients for.
It was great! We used sausage instead of the usual bacon (cause that's what we had on hand). It would have been great with bacon too (duh). Would also be nice served with fresh parsley. We served it with fresh lettuce - a great warm weather meal! I'm sure it would be possible to do a veggie version too - with no meat, just cooking the onions in oil.
[The toddler ate some plain sausage, boiled potatoes with butter, and as much chopped up pickle as we would allow her.]
1 small onion, diced
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp oil
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
About 1 lb potatoes
2 small sweet and sour pickles
3 small, organic gluten-free pork sausages
About 1/2 a head of lettuce
Boil potatoes until soft. Set aside. Cook sausages on medium heat in a cast-iron skillet, turning frequently until they're firm and cooked through. Remove sausages from pan. Keep on medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp of vinegar to pan and scrape like a madman to remove all the tasty sausage goodness. Add oil and onions to pan. Saute until onions are soft. Add 1/4 cup vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Cut potatoes into chunks and put in bowl. Add dressing from skillet to potatoes. Chop up sausages and add to potatoes. Mix well. Season to taste. Wash lettuce, rip it up and dress it with some olive oil. Place lettuce on plate, then scoop some potato salad over it.
It was great! We used sausage instead of the usual bacon (cause that's what we had on hand). It would have been great with bacon too (duh). Would also be nice served with fresh parsley. We served it with fresh lettuce - a great warm weather meal! I'm sure it would be possible to do a veggie version too - with no meat, just cooking the onions in oil.
[The toddler ate some plain sausage, boiled potatoes with butter, and as much chopped up pickle as we would allow her.]
1 small onion, diced
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp oil
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
About 1 lb potatoes
2 small sweet and sour pickles
3 small, organic gluten-free pork sausages
About 1/2 a head of lettuce
Boil potatoes until soft. Set aside. Cook sausages on medium heat in a cast-iron skillet, turning frequently until they're firm and cooked through. Remove sausages from pan. Keep on medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp of vinegar to pan and scrape like a madman to remove all the tasty sausage goodness. Add oil and onions to pan. Saute until onions are soft. Add 1/4 cup vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Cut potatoes into chunks and put in bowl. Add dressing from skillet to potatoes. Chop up sausages and add to potatoes. Mix well. Season to taste. Wash lettuce, rip it up and dress it with some olive oil. Place lettuce on plate, then scoop some potato salad over it.
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Tuna casserole
We thought we had absolutely nothing to eat in the house - and then we realised we had the ingredients for tuna casserole. Not exactly the most sophisticated dish but this is a tasty version - with, notably, no canned cream of mushroom soup (which about 99.9 per cent of the recipes we found online called for).
The toddler was a bit suspicious of it but in the end ate several pieces of fusilli and a couple handfuls of the meat and sauce, once we separated them for her.
If you don't have kids, add some dry white wine or sherry in the sauce and double or triple the garlic. Next time we'll try putting bread crumbs on top, under the grated cheese.
1 pound fusilli
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
300 g tinned tuna
1 cup frozen peas
6 tbsp butter
6 tbsp flour
3 cups milk
1/4 pound grated cheddar cheese
Cheddar
Parmesan
Melt the butter, then stir in the flour. Slowly add the 6 cups milk on low to medium heat, stirring constantly. You'll end up with a nice, thick sauce. Add the grated cheese and stir until it's melted in, then remove from the heat.
Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. Add the mushrooms. Add the tuna. Add the sauce. Add the fusilli. Add the peas. Put the resulting mix in a buttered baking pan and grate some cheddar and parmesan over the top. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes.
The toddler was a bit suspicious of it but in the end ate several pieces of fusilli and a couple handfuls of the meat and sauce, once we separated them for her.
If you don't have kids, add some dry white wine or sherry in the sauce and double or triple the garlic. Next time we'll try putting bread crumbs on top, under the grated cheese.
1 pound fusilli
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
300 g tinned tuna
1 cup frozen peas
6 tbsp butter
6 tbsp flour
3 cups milk
1/4 pound grated cheddar cheese
Cheddar
Parmesan
Melt the butter, then stir in the flour. Slowly add the 6 cups milk on low to medium heat, stirring constantly. You'll end up with a nice, thick sauce. Add the grated cheese and stir until it's melted in, then remove from the heat.
Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. Add the mushrooms. Add the tuna. Add the sauce. Add the fusilli. Add the peas. Put the resulting mix in a buttered baking pan and grate some cheddar and parmesan over the top. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes.
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Pork and veggie stew
I was totally winging it with this one and it came out very tasty!
I wanted to stew some meat because it makes for great family meals - very easy to eat for the family member who still doesn't have all her teeth. The rest was just a mix of what I remember from making other stews and Marcella Hazan tomato sauces (ie, LOTS of olive oil!).
We ate it with pasta but it could also have been served over rice, with potatoes - or even with potatoes cooked in it.
2T veg oil
800g pork
1/2 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced thin
1/2 courgette, sliced thin
About 1/4-1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 head garlic, chopped
2 splashes dry sherry
1 tsp oregano
1 enormous bay leaf
3 400ml/14 ox tins tomato
250ml/1 cup chicken stock
1 Tbsp flour
(Would have added dried basil if I'd had it. Instead, chopped up some fresh basil and cilantro and used that as a garnish before serving)
Heat veg oil in Dutch oven until very hot. Add cubed meat and brown on all sides. Set aside.
Add olive oil to Dutch oven. Add onion and carrot and saute for a few minutes. Add courgette, mushroom and garlic and cook until veg starts to get soft. Add spices, stir. Add sherry, scraping bottom of pan to remove tasty meat bits. Add tomato and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer, put the top and let it cook for at least two hours, stirring occasionally.
When the meat is very soft, remove the lid. Remove about a cup of liquid, and disolve flour in it. Then return flour/broth mixture to the soup. Stir and let cook for a few minutes with the top off, to thicken broth. Season with salt and pepper.
I wanted to stew some meat because it makes for great family meals - very easy to eat for the family member who still doesn't have all her teeth. The rest was just a mix of what I remember from making other stews and Marcella Hazan tomato sauces (ie, LOTS of olive oil!).
We ate it with pasta but it could also have been served over rice, with potatoes - or even with potatoes cooked in it.
2T veg oil
800g pork
1/2 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced thin
1/2 courgette, sliced thin
About 1/4-1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 head garlic, chopped
2 splashes dry sherry
1 tsp oregano
1 enormous bay leaf
3 400ml/14 ox tins tomato
250ml/1 cup chicken stock
1 Tbsp flour
(Would have added dried basil if I'd had it. Instead, chopped up some fresh basil and cilantro and used that as a garnish before serving)
Heat veg oil in Dutch oven until very hot. Add cubed meat and brown on all sides. Set aside.
Add olive oil to Dutch oven. Add onion and carrot and saute for a few minutes. Add courgette, mushroom and garlic and cook until veg starts to get soft. Add spices, stir. Add sherry, scraping bottom of pan to remove tasty meat bits. Add tomato and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer, put the top and let it cook for at least two hours, stirring occasionally.
When the meat is very soft, remove the lid. Remove about a cup of liquid, and disolve flour in it. Then return flour/broth mixture to the soup. Stir and let cook for a few minutes with the top off, to thicken broth. Season with salt and pepper.
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