German Cooking Today Read online

  Variation: To make a smoked loin of pork and cheese salad, use smoked loin of pork instead of pork sausage, cut into strips and add to the salad.

  SALADS

  127 | Egg salad with leeks

  For guests

  Preparation time: about 40 minutes

  300 g/10 oz leeks

  300 g/10 oz carrots

  1⁄2 head iceberg lettuce (about 150 g/5 oz)

  6 hard-boiled eggs

  For the sauce:

  100 g/31⁄2 oz salad mayonnaise

  150 g/5 oz natural yogurt

  4 teaspoons lemon juice

  salt, pepper, sugar

  2 teaspoons chopped chives

  Per serving:

  P: 14 g, F: 24 g, C: 9 g, kJ: 1287, kcal: 307

  1. Remove the outer leaves of the leeks, cut off the root ends and dark leaves. Cut in half lengthways, wash thoroughly, leave to drain and cut into very fine strips. Peel the carrots and cut off the green leaves and tips. Wash the carrots, leave to drain and grate coarsely.

  2. Remove the outer, yellowing leaves of the iceberg lettuce, cut into very fine strips, wash and spin dry. Shell the eggs and cut into six segments (perhaps with an egg slicer).

  3. To make the mayonnaise, mix together the yogurt and lemon juice and season with salt, pepper and sugar. Stir the dressing into the prepared salad ingredients (except for the eggs) and mix well. Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary. Garnish with the egg segments and sprinkle the chopped chives on top.

  Tip: Serve the egg and leek salad with bread or boiled potatoes as a light meal. It is also ideal as part of a party buffet.

  SALADS

  128 | Potato salad with mayonnaise

  Traditional

  Preparation time: about 45 minutes, excluding cooling and soaking time

  800 g/13⁄4 lb firm cooking potatoes

  2 onions

  250 ml/8 fl oz (1 cup) vegetable stock

  100 g/31⁄2 oz pickled gherkins (from the jar)

  3 hard-boiled eggs

  For the sauce:

  3 tablespoons mayonnaise

  2 tablespoons gherkin liquid

  salt

  freshly ground pepper

  Per serving:

  P: 10 g, F: 10 g, C: 29 g, kJ: 1044, kcal: 249

  1. Wash the potatoes, put in a saucepan filled with water, bring to the boil, cover and cook over medium heat for about 20–25 minutes.

  2. Drain the potatoes when cooked, rinse briefly under cold running water and leave to drain. Peel while still hot and leave to cool down. Then cut the potatoes into slices and put in a large bowl.

  3. Peel the onions, cut into very small cubes and bring to the boil in the vegetable stock. Cover and cook for 1 minute. Pour the hot onion and stock mixture over the sliced potatoes and leave to soak for at least 30 minutes. Cut the pickled gherkins into slices or cubes. Shell the eggs and cut into cubes.

  4. For the sauce, stir the liquid from the gherkins into the mayonnaise. Then mix together all the ingredients with the cooled potato slices in the onion stock mixture. Season with salt and pepper and leave to stand for at least 30 minutes.

  Tip: Potato salad is delicious served with grilled dishes, sausages, meat loaf made of liver, ham and pork, roast gammon or meat balls.

  Variation 1: To make potato salad with pork sausage, take 1 peeled, cored and diced apple and 250 g/9 oz cooked pork sausage, removed from its skin and cut into cubes. Add to the salad and mix well.

  Variation 2: To make potato salad with radishes, cut off the root tips and the leaves of a bunch of radishes, wash, cut into slices and stir into the salad. Rinse the radish leaves, pat dry, cut into strips and stir into the sauce together with 50 g/2 oz natural yogurt (3.5% fat).

  Variation 3: To make potato salad with pumpkin, use a jar of pickled pumpkin (drained weight 200 g/7 oz) instead of gherkins. Drain in a colander, reserve the liquid and use 3 tablespoons of this liquid for the sauce instead of the gherkin liquid. Cut the pumpkin pieces smaller if necessary.

  Variation 4: To make potato salad with tomatoes, leave out the gherkins and eggs. Take 4 tomatoes, wash, wipe dry and remove the stalks. Cut the tomatoes into four, remove the seeds and cut into cubes. Wash 1 small courgette, wipe dry, cut off the ends and slice thinly. Add these two ingredients to the salad. To make the sauce, stir together 300 g/10 oz natural yogurt (3.5% fat) with 1–2 tablespoons vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt, pepper and sugar. Pour over the salad and mix well. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of chopped chives on top.

  SALADS

  129 | Warm potato salad

  Good for preparing in advance

  Preparation time: about 50 minutes, excluding soaking time

  1 kg/21⁄4 lb firm cooking potatoes

  For the sauce:

  2 onions

  75 g/3 oz fatty bacon

  125 ml/4 fl oz (1⁄2 cup) vegetable stock

  2–3 tablespoons herb vinegar

  salt

  freshly ground pepper

  1 pinch sugar

  4 teaspoons chopped chives

  Per serving:

  P: 6 g, F: 15 g, C: 35 g, kJ: 1263, kcal: 301

  1. Wash the potatoes, put in a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, cover and cook over low heat for about 20–25 minutes.

  2. In the meantime, peel the onions for the sauce and cut into cubes. Dice the bacon, put in a frying pan without fat and cook over medium heat so that the fat is released. Strain the fat through a sieve into a small bowl and reserve the fried diced bacon.

  3. Add the diced onions to the stock and bring to the boil. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar and stir in the bacon fat.

  4. Drain the potatoes when cooked and rinse briefly in cold water. Drain again and peel while still hot. Cut into slices and arrange in a heat-resistant dish. Pour the salad dressing over the sliced potatoes and mix well. Leave to stand for a few hours so that the flavours can soak in.

  5. Preheat the oven. Check the seasoning and add salt, pepper and vinegar to taste. Put the dish in the oven and stir occasionally.

  Top/bottom heat: about 150 °C/300 °F (preheated),

  Fan oven: about 130 °C/250 °F (not preheated), Gas mark 1⁄2 (preheated),

  Cooking time: 15–20 minutes.

  6. Stir in the chives, scatter the fried diced bacon on top and serve warm.

  Tip: Serve the hot potato salad with gammon, Vienna sausages, small frankfurters or meat loaf made of liver, ham and pork.

  Variation 1: Streaky bacon can be used instead of fatty bacon. In this case fry the diced bacon in 2 tablespoons hot vegetable oil (e.g. sunflower oil) to release the fat.

  Variation 2: To turn this dish into a vegetarian dish, leave out the bacon and stir in 4 tablespoons olive or walnut oil into the sauce.

  Variation 3: To make a warm potato salad with pumpkin seeds, fry 70 g/ 3 oz pumpkin seeds in a pan without fat and make the sauce without bacon fat. Instead, use 4 tablespoons vegetable oil (e.g. sunflower oil). Stir the pumpkin seeds into the salad and sprinkle some pumpkin seed oil over the salad according to taste.

  SALADS

  130 | Rice salad

  Sophisticated (4–6 servings)

  Preparation time: about 30 minutes, excluding cooling and soaking time

  about 600 ml/21 oz (21⁄2 cups) water

  1 lightly rounded teaspoon salt

  200 g/7 oz long grain or brown rice

  200 g/7 oz slices of cooked ham

  150 g/5 oz black grapes

  150 g/5 oz celery stalks

  1 banana

  For the sauce:

  150 g/5 oz natural yogurt (3.5% fat)

  4 teaspoons mayonnaise

  2 tablespoons whipping cream

  4 teaspoons lemon juice

  salt

  freshly ground pepper

  some sugar

  Per serving:

  P: 14 g, F: 9 g, C: 41 g, kJ: 1261, kcal: 301

  1. Bring the water to the boil
in a covered pan. Then add the salt and rice, stir and bring to the boil again. Cover and cook over low heat for 12–15 minutes (brown rice about 20 minutes). Drain the rice in a sieve and allow to cool down, stirring occasionally.

  2. Cut the ham slices into strips. Wash the grapes, drain, remove the stalks, cut the grapes in half and remove the seeds if any.

  3. Remove the root ends, yellowing leaves and tough stringy fibres from the celery. Wash the stalks, drain and cut into thin slices. Peel the banana and slice.

  4. To make the sauce, mix together the mayonnaise, cream and lemon juice, then season with salt, pepper and sugar. Stir the dressing into the salad ingredients, let soak in and check the seasoning again, adding more salt, pepper and sugar if necessary.

  Variation 1: Instead of long grain rice or brown rice you can also make this salad with a mixture of rice and wild rice. Cook this mixture following the instructions on the packet and add 50 g/2 oz raisins about 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Drain the rice and raisins and rinse quickly with cold water.

  Variation 2: To make curried rice salad, heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, add the rice, fry briefly and stir in 1–2 teaspoons curry powder. Add 750 ml/ 11⁄4 pints (31⁄2 cups) vegetable or chicken stock, cover and simmer gently over low heat for about 20 minutes. Mix the cooked rice with the other ingredients listed above.

  ADVICE

  Potatoes, rice & pasta

  Pasta

  Pasta is a popular and very versatile food that can be served as a side dish, in soups or on its own as a main dish. It comes in many forms and colours; it may be stuffed or plain, dried or fresh, the latter being be found in refrigerated compartments in shops. Pasta is easy to store (especially dried pasta which keeps for a very long time) and also to prepare. There are two kinds of pasta: pasta made from flour, water, salt and egg, and pasta made from semolina, flour, water and salt, but without egg.

  Those who prefer can also make the pasta themselves (for instance, spätzle). The pasta dough can be coloured according to taste, for instance with tomato purée, puréed spinach, very finely chopped herbs, saffron or beetroot juice.

  Cooking pasta

  Pasta should always be cooked in plenty of water so that it has enough space to expand and does not stick together. You need 1 litre water per 100 g pasta (2 pints or 5 cups per 4 oz). If the quantity exceeds 400–500 g/14–18 oz it should be cooked in 2 saucepans. Add 1 teaspoon salt for each litre/ 2 pints (5 cups) of water. The salt and pasta should only be added to the water when it is boiling. Cook the pasta uncovered over medium heat following the instructions on the packet (home-made pasta only needs a few minutes) until al dente, stirring occasionally. Strain the cooked pasta in a colander, rinse under hot water (or cold water for pasta salad) and drain.

  Potatoes

  Potatoes contain important vitamins, minerals, nutrients and fibre. They have excellent physiologically nutritional properties that are best preserved when prepared without fat and care is taken not to destroy the nutrients they contain. Different potato varieties have different properties. This is why the choice of potato is very important. Based on their cooking properties potatoes are classed as follows:

  • Varieties with waxy, firm flesh. These varieties are particularly suitable for salads, boiling and fried potatoes.

  • Varieties with fairly firm flesh. These are very suitable for boiling, as jacket potatoes, for frying and baking (en papillote) or as a roast vegetable.

  • Floury varieties. These are ideal for making dumplings, potato fritters, pancakes, potato cakes, or for use in soups and stews.

  Storing

  Potatoes should be stored in a dark, well ventilated, cool space (4–6 °C/39–43 °F). If there is any light and the temperature is too high the potatoes will begin to germinate and sometimes turn green in places. Potatoes may be covered with paper. If you do not have good storage facilities it is best to buy smaller amounts which will only be stored for a short time.

  Tips

  • For jacket potatoes, always choose potatoes of the same size so that they will take the same time to cook (prick with a fork or knife to check whether the potatoes are cooked).

  • For boiled potatoes, cut the potatoes in pieces of roughly the same size so that they will take the same time to cook.

  • Only peel the potatoes just before you are going to prepare them. Put them in cold water so that they do not discolour.

  • Early potatoes (the earliest can be harvested at the beginning of June) have such a thin skin that they do not need peeling. In this case, wash and brush the potatoes very carefully to remove all soil. Early potatoes contain very little starch so they are not suitable for many dishes such as dumplings, potato dough or roast vegetables.

  • To boil potatoes, barely cover them in water or cook with very little water, in a potato steamer.

  • After pouring away the cooking liquid, return the potatoes to the pan and leave uncovered to let the steam evaporates, while shaking the pan slightly. You can also put a tea towel or kitchen paper between the saucepan and the lid to absorb the steam.

  Dumplings

  Dumplings are made from various basic doughs. These are usually made from raw or cooked potatoes or bread rolls, but yeast dough, semolina and spelt are also used. Depending on the recipe, different flavours can be added to the dough, which is normally savoury but may also be sweet. People who prefer to spare themselves the trouble of making dumplings themselves can also buy them readymade.

  Tips

  • Mix the ingredients very thoroughly so that they form a homogenous mass.

  • Cut out the dumplings with a spoon and shape them with your hands, previously moistened or lightly coated in flour.

  • To fill dumplings, first shape into a ball, then make a hole large enough to be filled with the stuffing. Then carefully press the dough back over the stuffing and smooth out the surface.

  • Oblong dumplings are made with two spoons, previously moistened. Press the mass from one spoon onto the other until an oblong dumpling is formed.

  • When they have been made, put the dumplings on a plate moistened with water or lightly coated with flour to prevent sticking.

  • Dumplings need a lot of room to cook, so a large pan is needed.

  • Test one dumpling to check whether the dough is the right consistency. If the dumpling disintegrates, add a little more semolina, potato or flour. But if the dumpling is too firm, add a little more stock, milk, curd cheese or egg to the dough.

  • Put the dumplings in boiling water, lower the heat and cook the dumplings with the lid on, except for yeast-based dumplings. Do not boil: the water should only be “moving” very gently.

  • Shake the pan lightly now and again to make the dumplings rise to the surface.

  • Towards the end of the cooking time, take one dumpling out of the water and open using two forks. If the inside is dry, the dumplings are ready. If the inside is moist, the dumplings must cook a little longer.

  • When the dumplings are done, remove from the water with a skimming ladle and leave to drain thoroughly.

  Rice

  Rice is rich in vitamins and minerals, low in calories and very easy to digest.

  Basmati rice

  An aromatic variety of rice which develops a delicate fragrance when cooked.

  Brown rice

  The brownish grains still have the soft, silvery inner membrane and the seedling that contains important vitamins and minerals.

  Because this variety goes rancid rather quickly it also should be used soon after purchase and not stored for too long. It takes longer to cook than polished rice varieties. Polished rice is produced when the silvery membrane of the brown rice is removed. This involves the grains being cleaned, polished and glazed. Polished rice contains fewer vitamins than brown rice. The fatty elements are removed and it can be stored for longer.

  Easy-cook rice

  This type of rice is pre-cooked after polishing, so it only needs to be cooke
d for 3–5 minutes.

  Long grain rice (Patna rice)

  This is a widely used variety of rice. The grains are long and narrow and appear slightly transparent when uncooked. This variety is ideally suited for spicy ricebased dishes.

  Parboiled rice

  In the case of parboiled rice, the vitamins and minerals are transferred from the silvery membrane to the inner core of the grain. This means that the rice retains its vitamins and minerals when it is cleaned and polished. Parboiled rice is slightly yellowish before cooking and turns white when cooked. The grains remain separate even when the rice is cooked again.

  Risotto rice

  This has a medium-sized grain (i.e. between short grain and long grain) and originates from Italy. It produces a lot of starch during the cooking process which gives risotto its creamy consistency.

  Short grain rice

  This variety has short grains as the name suggests. It produces a lot of starch when it swells up, while also becoming very soft and mushy. This variety is almost exclusively used for making rice puddings.

  Wild rice

  Strictly speaking, wild rice is not rice but the seed of a variety of aquatic grasses. The grains are thin, almost black and have a nutty flavour. It is very expensive and is usually only available mixed with longgrain rice.

  Preparation

  Rice trebles in volume during the cooking process. This means that 1 cup of raw rice produces 3 cups of cooked rice. The cooking time depends on the type of rice. Unhusked rice needs to be cooked for 35–40 minutes, while husked rice only needs from 15–20 minutes (follow the instructions on the packet). You can cook rice either in plenty of boiling salted water, or first fry it in a little oil and then cook in less liquid to enable it to swell (ratio of rice to liquid = 1 to 2). Many vitamins and minerals are lost when the cooking liquid is poured away. But when rice swells up it absorbs all the liquid so that it retains all the nutrients.