Red Cabbage in pumpkin seed oil dressing

In the Austrian region of the Steirmark pumpkins are the traditional veggies.  They are grown for their seeds. The seeds are made into a rich dark green oil. This is the main export of this region.

I bought a small bottle for one of my Easter meals. Today I had some red cabbage leftover and made a quick salad. For a dark salad a dark oil and a dark vinegar sounded weird. But take a teaspoon full of oil and you have the nutty flavour of pumpkin seeds. Amazing.

The salad is based on the "Stayathome" ingredients. I used up what I could find. Make this salad your own way with ingredients you have on hand. Get some frwxh herbs in.

Ingredients:
180 g red pointed cabbage
80 g sugar snap peas
6 cherry tomatoes
1 spring onion
Chives
Red sorrel
Pimpinelle
Purple basil
2 tbsp Steir pumpkin seed oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper

Blanche the peas first for 1 min and then cook the fine shredded cabbage in salted water for 4 min.
Make the dressing and add the rest of the ingredients.

Green Herb Sauce with Eggs

Spring and Easter time is the best time of the year to start eating fresh herbs.

The season of fresh herbs started early this year. I watch every day on my own balcony how fast some of my herbs grow. 4 weeks ago, they just looked out of the brown mass that was the protecting rest of last years grow.
20 pots survived the mild winter. Last Saturday I bought just 5 pots more to up the veriaty.

For the traditional Frankfurt green sauce you will need 7 herbs.

A long time ago, I wrote an other blog about them.

It is a matter of taste in which proportions the herbs are a part of the sauce. And it is a matter of the time of year. Are all herbs available? But leaving some of them out?
No worry, it still will be a tasty sauce. You can exchange some of the herbs, but be careful, some like mint or coriander will change the sauce dramatically. All herbs with a medium or strong taste of anis seed are wrong. So, no dill ot tarragon either.

The sauce contains parsley, chives, chervil, cress, sorrel, pimpinelle and borage.
The last three in smaller quantities. The bulk is parsley and chives. Then a medium amount of chervil and cress.

Important are hard boiled eggs. Either chop them up and toss them in or serve them whole on the side. One or two per person.

The binder is the sauce. Do not get me wrong, there are so many ways for this to become tasty. Experiment and find your own best loved way.

In Frankfurt most use sour cream, full fat yogurt and mayonaise.

I love my sauce with:
250 g curd 10 % fat
200 g Greek yogurt
2 tbsp mayonaise
1 tsp mustard
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
Salt and pepper

Serve it with potatoes.

Apple and Blueberry Crumble

I have not made a crumble since 2018.

Last afternoon Sortedfood made crumbles on their Insta live at 5:30 MEZ.

Apples and blueberries were at home already. The rest of the ingredients were just store cupboard and fridge.

When I have a crumble, the ratio of fruits and dough is important to me. When someone skims on the crumble, that' s bad.
I used some fine oats in the crumble. That makes it a bit heartier.

Recipe for 4:
2  large, 1 small apple
200 g blueberries
1/2 lemon juiced
50 ml apple juice
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp Spanish 43 Liqueur

Crumble:
80 g butter
80 g sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch grated vanilla bean
100 g flour
45 g fine oats
1/2 tsp salt
Butter for the baking dish and to top the crumble
Greek yogurt for serving

In a pan melt the tablespoon of sugar and add the apple juice.
Peel and core the apples and cut them into bite size chunks.
Add to the pan and let them get soft a little. Sprinkle with salt and cinnamon.
After 6 min, add the washed blueberries and the Spanish Liqueur.
Cook 3 min more and set aside.

In a standmixer with the paddle attachment combine the ingredients for the crumble.
Put that in a bowl and refrigerate for 15 min.

Heat up the oven to 170 C fan.
Butter the baking dish, put the fruits in and top with crumble. Place some strips of butter on top.
Bake for 30 min.

Pork Neck stuffed with Onions

Getting creative in the kitchen during Corona times is vital to keep sane.

Buying larger portions of meet is good. The cooked product can be used up in different ways. The last piece of pork neck at the but cher was mine.

I cut it 3 times against the grain 2/3 down. Seasoned with salt and pepper and a good rub of mustard and stuffed onion slices in the cuts.

To hold it together I used kitchen twine and made it into a sloppy package. An onion fell out during the searing in the pan and I stuffed it back in.

Recipe for 4:
950 g pork neck
2 Medium onions
Mustard
1 Spring onion
3 Cloves of garlic
3 Large carrots
150 g sugar snap peas
450 ml lager beer
1 Beef stock cube
1 Tbsp rapeseed oil
Salt and pepper

Prepare the meat and heat up the oven to 180 C fan.
Get 1 carrot, the rest of the onion and the garlic in the pan. Pour in the beer and close the lid and put it in the oven for 100 min.

You can bind the sauce with the veggies or with potato starch.

In a pan saute carrots with spring onion ans cut up peas.
Serve the dish with rice.

Red Cabbage - family style

When you only go out once a week to buy groceries, you buy different veggies. The ones that last a couple of days or longer.

I bought a pointed red cabbage and made recipes with it. But there is still some left.

My Dad made a great red cabbage as a side dish. We all loved it. And it's been a while since I prepared some. I just used one halve of the cabbage and put the rest back into the veggie drawer of my fridge.

An important ingredient to prepare red cabbage was the right kind of fat to start the cooking process. Oil or butter was a no go for my Dad. He used lard - pork fat. I used goose fat- I had left over from the Christmas goose breast cooking. It is much more savoury than any kind of oil. An absolut no go for him was the use of olive oil for the cabbage.

A must always was a appke and and onion and spices. My Dad just dumped the spices in the pot. But biting on a clove or allspice berry at the table was rather unpleasant.

A lot better is the use of a tea bag or metal tea egg.

Finalizing the cabbage with a good sprinkle of flour and a bit later some vinegar gives the shine and the taste.

Recipe for 2:
350 g red cabbage shredded
2 tbsp goose fat or lard
1 medium onion sliced
1/2 large red apple with skin cubed
150 ml apple juice
1 heaped tbsp flour
2 tbsp balsamic or any other vinegar
4 cloves
4 allspice berries
4 juiniper berries
Salt and pepper

Hest up the goose fat, add cabbage, thrn onion and apple on top.
Place the spice kit in. Season.
Add the juice and close the lid.
After 5 min, stir well and check the liquid. Add more if needed.
Cook on medium heat for 20 -25 min.
Do not cook longer!
Fish out the spice kit, sprinkle with flour and stir well.
Add the vinegar. Check the seasoning.

Remember: red cabbage tastes even better when warmed up once or twice.

Broccoli and Peanut Butter Soup

This an old SortedFood recipe.

I have not cooked it in more then 4 years. It was a soup that I made several times for many of my friends and family. There was nobody who did not like this soup.

It is a cheap way to feed lots of people. But that is not the reason why I made it so often in the past.

The broccoli does not need to be the freshest. You can use up one that spent some time in your veggie drawer or you can save one from the market.

Recipe for 4:
500 g broccoli
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
400 ml veg stock
400 ml milk
75 ml double cream
Salt and pepper
Nutmeg
3 heaped tbsp crunchy peanut butter

Bread and butter for croutons

Clean the broccoli and chop then peeled stem. The florets can be rough. Onion and garlic in larger bits. Start them in oil, when they get a little color, add broccoli. Stir well.
Now in with stock, milk and cream. Season very good with nutmeg, some salt and lots of pepper. Cook on medium heat for 15 min. When the broccoli is soft, take a stick blender and make a fine soup. Back on the heat and stir in the crunchy peanut butter.

Roast the chunks if bread in a pan.

White Beans and Whole Wheat Pasta

Pasta e Fagioli.

This recipe wont get any likes on Instagram.
Brown whole wheat pasta and white beans in broth are not colorful enough.

A classic from Napoli. But there are many different ways to prepare it. This is a rustique way to cook.

You do not need a lot, just a can of white beans  and a little other stuff. A potato masher is a must, because a stick blender makes the mush too fine.

Recipe for 2:
1 450g can of white beans
180 ml veg stock
2 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
A small piece of yellow bell pepper
Bunch of flat leaf parsley
Dried thyme
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
220 g whole wheat pasta
Pecorino cheese

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water.
In a second pot heat up some olive oil and saute onions, garlic and bell pepper.
Drain the beans and rinse the slime off. Cook with the onions.
Season well.

Pour in the veg stock and cook for 3 min. Use the masher and make a rough blend. There should be some whole beans left.
Chop parsley and add it. Bind the sauce with some grated pecorino and give some on top when serving.