German Fest...minus all the beer.

It was our November meeting of the cooking minds, German was on the menu, and I was the hostess. What to cook? After looking through many blogs and recipe sites online I decided on the following menu: 

Fondue with bread and veggies

Cucumber and Onion Salad w Dill

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

Brandied Meat Patties

Pear & Cranberry Strudel

Only one important ingredient was missing from our night and that was Evonne. :( She must have been really miserable to miss out on great food!

Of course we had to have an appetizer that we could be munching on while we were making the other dishes. You can NEVER go wrong with fondue. 

Fondue: Gruyere, Gouda, garlic, lemon juice, white wine, and nutmeg.

On to the side dishes. We just HAD to have cabbage, and this recipe didn't disappoint! It was the best cabbage I've ever had. You start by sauteing the sliced apples and chopped onions in butter. Then add the cabbage and the other ingredients, cover, and let simmer for a while. Oh man, the smell from the onions, clove, butter and wine was incredible.

Red cabbage, tart apples, red wine, cloves, onion, 
brown sugar, vinegar, butter. YUM!

Our other side dish was the cucumber, onion, and dill salad and Casey was the slicing and dicing queen! 

VERY thinly sliced cucumber, vinegar, sugar, salt,
pepper, red onion, and dill. Chill and eat!

What a cutie. 

The main dish...Brandied Meat Patties! Now that sounds German. Amy was the woman for this job, and she handled it beautifully. 

Ground beef, bread crumbs, yogurt, creme fraiche, salt
pepper, cubes of cheese, and brandy.

The meat patties are filled with a cheese cube or two, and then pan fried in oil and removed from the pan. Then brandy and creme fraiche was added to the pan, heated, and then the sauce was spooned over the meat. It was interesting because the meat patties were actually kind of bland, but then we realized it was necessary because the sauce was so rich. 

adding the brandy

And finally, desert. This course has been a challenge for us every time we've met, but we are not deterred! For this month...Pear and Cranberry Strudel.

We layered 8 sheets of phyllo dough with butter, sugar
and almonds between each sheet.

Then we filled it with a mixture of crasins, pears, sugar, butter,
all spice, ginger, and a little bit of bread crumbs.

Finally we tried to wrap it up, but it started
sticking to the pan, and crumbling.

We finally got it though, and Casey made sure it knew who was boss!

It ended up turning out beautifully, and it was delicious. Triumph was ours once again! I'm telling you, there's not a better way to spend an evening than with sweet friends and scrumptious food. Happy cooking and Merry Christmas!

Missed you Evonne!

Indian Night- Fragrant, Vibrant, and Scrumptious!

Wow, we have made and eaten some GREAT food in the last couple of months, and it's taken forever to share the documentation. We hope our cooking club will inspire you to be daring and try something new in your kitchen. It's really most fun with some friends to do it with. :)

In October it was Amy's turn to host, and a wonderful hostess she was! We also had along this sweet little guy along to make things fun.

We started with an appetizer that we could NOT stop eating! And you will be shocked when you hear what it was...cauliflower! I never imagined that there would be a way of preparing this bland vegetable that would make it so irrisistible, but the fine cooks in India have found it! 

The recipe was so simple- cauliflower, turmuric, cumin, and olive oil. Toss, spread on a baking sheet, and roast at 400 until their soft. I know you're still skeptical, but I'm telling you, one bite and you will not be able to walk away until they're all gone!

While we were devouring the entire pan of cauliflower, we started on the other main dishes. As we were cooking, the fragrance of the many spices was just incredible! I'm pretty sure Amy's house probably still smells like an Indian restaurant. 

The Coconut Chicken Curry was sensational, although a little dangerous. 

We also made Mushroom Matar, which we thought was oddly named because it was mostly tomatoes and onions. Either way, it was delicious, and filled with peas, mushrooms, and these gorgeous spices!

To go along with our dishes we made Jasmine Rice and an interesting drink called Angoor Sharbat. The drink was made of grape juice, orange zest, honey, a cinnamon stick, cardamon, and cloves. You cooked all of that for a while, chilled it, and then poured it over ice with sparkling water. We decided it mostly tasted like grape juice to us. 

We finished our meal with a sticky sweet desert called Karanji. It was wheat dough pocket filled with a cooked mixture of almond slivers, sugar, coconut, nutmeg, ginger, poppy seeds, and ghee (butter). Then the little pockets were deep fried. 

It seems our deserts are always an adventure. It was hard to get the filling in the dough without it leaking all over, and then the sugar cooked on the outside of the pockets, making them stick together. Even so, they were tasty!

This meal was fantastic, and so fun to make! The vibrant colors of the spices, and the aroma of them cooking was a treat just in themselves. 

If you want to find these and other Indian recipes, Amy got most of her at www.indianfoodforever.com

Happy Cooking!