it was a german kind of night (a few nights ago…)

OK, so school has really taken a toll on blogging, among other things… Admittedly, blogging (here and for the c0-op) is potentially the ONE area of my life that really can drop off a bit, so I had to let it. Oh, it’s been hard. There has been guilt. There has been worry. There have been myriad un-published posts swirling around in my head since September. But drop it did. Thankfully, with my new iPhone, blogging hasn’t completely disappeared; the short posts it allows me to upload have been my saving grace this semester. I’m even toying with the idea of blogging with it primarily, instead of trying to make it to the computer all the time…

Anyway, here’s yet another post that was written long ago and is just now being finished and uploaded…(sigh).

I made sauerbraten and spaetzle Friday night. Andrew and I traveled around Germany a year or so after we got married and have lots of happy memories of the country, the trip and the food. We’re BIG foodies; WHERE we eat on trips is potentially the biggest part, at least for me.

Anyway, I saw a recipe for sauerbraten and homemade spaetzle in a Food Network magazine forever ago and ripped it out, knowing I would make it someday. Well, that day came Friday. Actually, it started Tuesday by marinating the roast in a mix of red wine, beef broth, red wine vinegar and onions with all sorts of spices, to include juniper berries. Thank goodness Wegmans has juniper berries! I’ve been known to go on wild-goose chases for ingredients, and I don’t have that kind of time right now.

Basically, sauerbraten is a roast with a bit of a vinegar-y flavor. We both really like it. It cooks in a similar way as well, so when I got home from school Friday, I took it out of the fridge and after a short “decompressing period” (not for the meat, for me) I started cooking.

The sauerbraten was PHENOMENAL. Andrew announced it as a “top 10” and couldn’t get enough. The sauce was rich and thick with just the right “bite” to it.

I served it with the homemade spaetzle; the recipe for which was featured on the opposite side of the page. I love doing that–making a whole ‘meal’ I find in a magazine, or making each component from scratch–it just feels better that way.

However… Spaetzle, I have learned, is not for the weak. And I’m not weak, so I’m not sure who it’s for. Either that, or a spaetzle press is a mandatory accessory. Basically, you make an egg-y dough and force it through the large holes of a colander, while holding it over boiling water. Sounds OK, right? WRONG. The dough was so thick and springy that it was terribly difficult to get it through the holes, not to mention the awkward position of having to hold it over the stove. It took about 45 minutes and I thought my forearms were going to fall off my body. Never gain. Next time, I’ll look for it at Wegmans.

I also made a “sweet hot” cabbage recipe Andrew loves. It’s another Food Network magazine find and since he won’t eat sauerkraut, it’s my go-to cabbage dish for meals with pork and apples or sausages or something. And anytime I make coleslaw I have to bring out all the cabbage recipes I can find; I refuse to buy pre-cut coleslaw mix, and cutting up those heads of cabbage yield SO MUCH. After making some coleslaw and this recipe, I still have a ton left, so I’m trying a sauteed cabbage recipe in a couple nights. Thankfully, other than drying out a bit, cabbage keeps for awhile in the fridge.

What a mess! (Andrew did the dishes–hence the photo–what a sweetie!)

Streudel is such a German dish and Andrew loves it, so I thought I’d whip up an apple crostata with a pie dough I had in the freezer. Well, things never go as planned for me (go figure…) and dinner was later than I had thought, so I actually ended up making this a couple nights later when Carolyn and Ben came over for a movie. It actually worked out well; more people means fewer leftovers to tempt me!

Today is my day “off,” which I hope will be filled with chemistry and present-wrapping!

jeni’s sorbets

I’d been ~~salivating over~~ waiting to use my new Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams cookbook (thanks Susy!) until I was ready to make their classic Salty Caramel as my first foray into the book. That, or their Ugandan Vanilla Bean, because I love my husband.

But, as you know, in my never-ending quest to empty our teeny-tiny freezer (you’re probably wondering how it keeps getting full again. All I can say is, I manage to do it…over and over again), I found I had the exact ingredients for not one but TWO different sorbet recipes.

So, Cranberry Royale and Watermelon Lemonade it was!

You make the cranberry sorbet much like you’d make cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving…cranberries, water, sugar and maybe some citrus. Jeni’s recipe calls for grapefruit juice and zest, which you can see in the photo. Her sorbets also call for light corn syrup. She goes into detail in the first sections of the book about how to make ice cream “scientifically.” I tried to follow, but the basic gist of it is the challenge of getting everything to bond with the water molecules. Unbound water molecules = icy ice cream or sorbet, not creamy.

After making grapefruit/cranberry sauce, you puree the mixture (if you’d like) and set it aside to chill. She recommends putting it in a ziploc and setting it in ice water; I chose to leave mine in a bowl in the fridge for a couple hours. Mine got a lot thicker, although I don’t think it hurt the finished product.

Every time we open the freezer, Hadrian thinks he’s getting a treat. Ice cubes. He loves them. I do, too, since they’re free (essentially) and always available. And free. And the only mess they leave is a little water here and there.

Here’s the watermelon lemonade sorbet. A relatively decent shot, if I do say so myself. Taking into account the poor lighting in the kitchen and the fact that I was holding the camera directly above it and snapping blindly, I DO say so!

A word about the watermelon sorbet: It didn’t turn out very well. Very icy. But it’s my own darn fault. I used sub-par watermelon (that I’d already frozen–because it was SUB-PAR), and bottled lemon juice. So, yeah, I knew this one wasn’t going to be spectacular or anything.

Finished cranberry sorbet…in a ball jar. I’m getting all fancy here with my food styling. The cranberry is AWESOME. Perfect creamy texture–how did that happen, there isn’t anything creamy in it??? I guess it’s all that water-bonding Jeni was talking about… And it’s got that back-of-your-tongue bite to it that is reminiscent of cranberry sauce. In fact, my first bite made me feel like it was Thanksgiving!

I’m a busy girl today with NO BREAKFAST! Had to fast for a blood-draw this morning for a health-screening appointment (so we can get extra points or something for a discount with Moog’s health insurance…), but I’m packing a Luna bar and a banana to fuel me up so I can hit up Wegmans before a run. Then I’m computering here at the hotel, meeting a friend (I have a friend!) for coffee, making cookies at Andrew’s parents’ house, then mad packing for our trip to Dayton tomorrow! Can’t wait 🙂

it was a caramel-making kind of day

Get ready to salivate.

Seriously. My stomach is in so much pain from the amount of caramel I consumed this afternoon, yet I don’t regret a single taste of it. Or forty.

(99.9% of the photos courtesy of Ms. Jennifer Reaves)

We used Susy’s friend’s grandmother’s recipe for caramels. Barefoot Contessa also has a recipe, so I’ll have to try that one next. (I have this thing with finding the “best” recipe for any given thing… I once made SIX different blueberry muffin recipes one Saturday morning just to figure out which was the best. Results in a nutshell: the recipe I’d been making for the last few years came in dead last, Martha’s came in first [of course her’s would]. Andrew did document that morning in pictures, so perhaps one of these days I’ll share them with you all!)

Anyway, back to the caramels.

Anna, Susy’s daughter, helped the whole time. Here she is getting every last drop of the corn syrup into the measuring cup.

Let the corn syrup, butter and sugar boil for five minutes. And use a wooden spoon. Apparently it’s a requirement.

Here is Susy in her natural state: caffeinated and offering to make her guests an espresso or latte. She loves her espresso machine more than life itself.

Susy and Jennifer have been friends for years. Susy introduced me to Jennifer at Bible study awhile ago and I love her! I love her short hair (finally, someone who understands what “short” really is) and her Southern accent. And her faith in God–such an amazing woman! And, she was our photographer this afternoon, which is nice for me, since I’m not naturally inclined to take photos, yet I love having them and being in them. Note to self: learn to use the timer on Andrew’s camera for times I DON’T have Jennifer around.

Anna and I stirred, and stirred, and stirred, and stirred…

We added two cans of sweetened, condensed milk. You actually add 1.5 cans and use the remaining half to mix (really well!) with 1/2 cup sifted flour, then add that, too. And vanilla. I love the smell of real vanilla extract.

Candy thermometers are a must here. Hmm, I LOVE my candy thermometer at home, yet I’ve never actually used it to make candy… Homemade yogurt, water temperature before making bread–now that we’re moving and Andrew won’t be getting any of Susy’s caramels every time she makes them, guess I need to add making caramels to the list of things I use my candy thermometer for.

Apparently, you test “done-ness” by spooning a tiny bit into a glass of ice water and tasting it. It should be “hard ball,” or relatively solid. We must have tested it five times before it was ready…

Nope, not ready. More stirring, and stirring, and stirring… (and intense gazing).

It started getting darker, which told us it was getting close.

Once it passed the consistency test, we poured it into an oiled dish to cool.

Sprinkled on some sea salt. If I had my way (and probably Susy, too), I’d roll each piece in some coarse sea salt as well. YUM.

We threw the pan in the fridge to speed up the hardening process, then left to do some Goodwill shopping. I scored some BRAND NEW Ann Taylor camis and a pair of dressy, black, knee-length shorts. I’m still on Cloud 9 about trying on size 6’s and 8’s. Never. Been. Happier.

Susy scored the top before it hardened any more, then we popped it back in the fridge.

We finally cut into it and started wrapping. In all honesty, it probably could have stayed in the fridge a bit longer to harder, but we had to get the show on the road!

Picture the stickiest, messiest, greasiest (we oiled our hands to keep them from sticking) scene possible. Then double it.

Finished, wrapped caramels! Andrew will be in heaven when he gets home. Did you know he told me, explicitly, that he WOULD NOT allow me to move to NY until I’d gone to Susy’s and learned how to make caramels? Well, he did. Glad I got that box checked off!

Anna made up banana muffins for lunch. Great photo!

I LOVE Susy’s napkin holder. Does anyone know where I can get one? I’ve been on the lookout for awhile now for a colorful, slightly funky yet simple/traditional napkin holder. And a banana hanger while I’m at it. I have a bamboo one and it’s just so BORING. I am not boring.

And then, because we could, we made salted caramel sauce.

You start with a saucepot and sugar. Turn the heat on.

The sugar will start to melt into what look like clumps. Stir a little, but not too much! (Susy said not to.)

Always time for a photo!

Before long, the sugar looks like this!

Add the butter. It will bubble and sizzle a bit.

Then add the vanilla, cream and a teaspoon or so of salt.

Finished sauce! Yum. I drizzled some on an apple to start, but by the end of the afternoon, we were basically eating it with a spoon. I’m willing myself not to pour the sauce I took home on ice cream tonight…I was in a sugar-stupor all afternoon!

I recovered with a bowl of Ellie Krieger’s Nutty Sweet Potato soup with scallions and peanuts. Healthy! Tonight I plan on packing up all our pantry food and most of my clothes. Wish me luck!