Lentils, Sausage and Spaetzle

Matt and I are trying to figure out where to go on vacation this year. Right now the place on the top of the list is Munich and the Bavarian Alps. One of the things that kept coming up while Matt was doing research was this dish.

It seemed a little weird to me, both lentils and spaetzle, but we loved it. We cooked the lentils with bacon and vegetables to give them a lot of flavor and seem a little more like a stew. Traditionally, this dish is made with German hot dog, but we went with a bratwurst. These were wonderful housemade brats from our local grocery store, Kowalski's. They added another layer of flavor to what I was afraid would be a band dish.

We didn't make our own spaetzle, because I can't seem to get the hang of it. Luckily, one of our local German restaurants sells their in the grocery store.

Lentils, Sausage and Spaetzle

2 slices bacon, chopped
1/2 T olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1/2 c dried lentils
handful fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 bratwurst links
salt and pepper
hot cooked spaetzle

Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until it renders its fat. Add the olive oil and heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Sauté until the onion is translucent and the rest of the vegetables are starting to get tender. Add the lentils, 2 cups water and parsley. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and let cook for about 20 minutes. Add the brats and cook covered for another 15 minutes until the brats are cooked through and the lentils are tender. It should be the consistency of a stew. If it is too watery, let cook with the top off until thicker. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve over spaetzle with mustard.

Makes 2 servings.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Weekly Menu 2/27-3/2/12

We are Lego fans in these house and when we saw this minifig in the latest series we had to get it.

I hear there is a lack of people training to be butchers these days, so at least we have the Lego version, hee.

I am in my second week of being in a splint thanks to tendonitis. So, Matt is stuck with most of the kitchen duties. I can help, but things like chopping and such are out for me. I can even only type one-handed. That said we are looking at meals over the week that are a little easier for him to throw together after work.

On to Menu Planning Monday...
Matt roasted a chicken on Friday, so a lot of this week will be using that up.

Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Pizzeria Lola Night

Ramen with mushrooms and toasted corn

Chili - Just a real basic ground beef version

Chicken in mushroom sauce with spetzale

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Pancakes with Brie and Cloudberries

Yesterday was Pancake Day, so Matt made me pancakes for dinner. Well, actually we had planned to have these pancakes this week before we realized it was Pancake Day, we just got lucky.

We were just looking for a good vehicle for the cloudberry jam we brought back from Sweden.

Cloudberries are a tart fruit similar to raspberries and blackberries that are typically found in the Nordic and Baltic countries as well as parts of Canada. We've never been able to find them in the states, so we were excited to bring some home. We really like there flavor, but they are quite seedy, even more so than raspberries.

Ok, back to the pancakes. Matt thought it would be good to add a savory element to them, so he picked up a local soft cheese that was quite similar to a brie. The tangy, funkiness of the cheese was a perfect pairing with fruit. We put a layer of cheese between to hot pancakes making the cheese all melty and runny and then topped it with the jam. It was a great brinner, but would also be wonderful for a brunch.

No other recipe here, but I'll share Matt's tricks for making a tastier, fluffier pancakes with Bisquick. He adds one more egg than the recipe calls for and uses buttermilk instead of milk. He stirs in the eggs first and then adds the buttermilk until it reaches his desired consistency. He adds a touch of vanilla for a little more flavor. Finally, he lets the batter sit for 10 minutes before using, he says the batter even rises a little in the bowl while resting.

Hope you all had some great pancakes yesterday too!

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Red Beans, Chorizo and Rice

I was about to put chili on the menu again last week, but then realized it had been a long time since we'd had a nice big pot of beans and rice. Matt noticed there were a couple chorizo links in the freezer, so we decided to add those too.

Other than cooking the bean, this is a one pot meal. The rice absorbs wonderful flavor from being cooked in the bean cooking water, red peppers and liquid from the tomatoes. Yes, you can use canned beans, but then I might add some chicken stock with the rice for a little more flavor.

Red Beans, Chorizo and Rice

1 1/2 c dried red beans (we used Good Mother Stallard from Rancho Gordo)
1 T olive oil
2 red peppers, seeded and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 - 3 links chorizo, 6 to 9 oz (Spanish chorizo), sliced in half lengthwise and cut into half moons
1/2 t smoked paprika
1 t dried parsley
1 c long white rice
1 14 oz can diced or crushed tomatoes
salt and pepper
hot sauce (optional)

Rinse and sort the beans. Put into a pot or crock pot an add 4 1/2 cups water. If cooking on the stove bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Let simmer until the beans are tender, 3 - 4 hours. If using a crock pot, set it to high and cook the same amount of time. Add more water if it looks dry while cooking. Set aside. Do not drain.

In a large pot like a dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the peppers, onion, garlic and celery. Sauté until the onions are translucent and everything is tender. Stir in the chorizo, paprika and parsley. Add the rice and cook for one minute. Add the beans with cooking water and the tomatoes. You want there to be a little more than 2 cups liquid (just eyeball it). If you need a little more add some water. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes until the rice is tender.

Taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper as needed. Serve with hot sauce if desired.

Makes 6 servings and is really good reheated as a leftover.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Potato, Onion and Endive Tart

Sometimes it feels like I'm always planning my menus around items in the fridge or freezer I need to use up. The other day Matt noticed I had a bunch of half packages of phyllo and puff pastry dough in the freezer. (I always forget I have it and buy a new package.) So, this tart was a way to start working my way through them.

It has a classic combination of potatoes, onions and a good cheese. The endive was a last minute addition after I received this crazy Valentine "bouquet."

If I hadn't already had the onions caramelizing, I might have skip them all together and just used the endive. Endive has a bitter taste when raw, but braised or caramelized it get a wonderful sweetness.

Potato, Onion and Endive Tart

1/2 T olive oil
2 onions, sliced thin
salt and pepper
2 sprigs fresh thyme chopped, about a 1/2 t (or a pinch dried)
2 endives, roughly chopped
2 small yukon potatoes, thinly sliced (no need to peel them)
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten
about 1 c grated comte cheese (gruyere would be good too)

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the onions. Season with a little salt and pepper and the thyme. Let cook on low, stirring occasionally, until almost caramelized. When the onions are almost as brown as you want, add the endive. Continue cooking until both the onions and endive are brown and completely soft.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potato slices. Boil for 1 - 2 minutes to par-cook. Drain.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Roll the puff pastry out on a baking sheet. Press it out a little. Using a sharp knife draw a border about 1/2 inch in around the whole edge of the pastry sheet WITHOUT going all the way through the dough. Use a fork to make indentations in the center square also without going through the dough. Brush with beaten egg.

Spread the grated cheese evenly around the center square. Top with the potato slices overlapping them a little. Top with the onion and endive mixture.

Place on center rack of preheated oven. Turn heat down to 350 F. Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes. The cheese should be melted and the pastry puffed and golden.

Let sit a few minutes before cutting.

Makes 2 main course servings

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski