Sauerbraten (German Sweet and Sour Beef)

When I was in NZ last year, I found an excellent deal on beef brisket and came home with a nice piece. It went in the freezer to be cooked later... But then I never quite got to it before I left. So it was still waiting for me in the freezer when I returned this year.

Another time I might've tried to smoke and/or barbecue it. But we're kind of out of grilling season in this hemisphere now and, after a year in the freezer, it was a bit freezer-burnt, so I decided to go for a slow cooker option instead.

After giving it a bit of thought and tossing around a few different ideas, I settled on taking a crack at turning it into sauerbraten. I have fond memories of the sauerbraten that my dad made. And, while I don't have his recipe, I figured I could at least ask the internet and try to come up with something similar. And it seemed like the ideal thing to do with a big chunk of slightly freezer-burnt beef.

The recipe that I used recommends using a bottom round or rump roast for this, but I figured the brisket would also work quite well. And it did! I really enjoyed how it came out. That said, I'm sure it would be good with other cuts too.

Sauerbraten

Slightly adapted from Daring Gourmet

Ingredients

• 2 onions, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, cut into large chunks
• 1 leek, white parts only, thoroughly rinsed and chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 juniper berries
• 6 whole cloves
• 10-12 black peppercorns
• 2 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 1/2 c. red wine
• 1 c. red wine vinegar¹
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 1.5-2kg beef roast (brisket, bottom round, rump, etc.)
• 1-2 Tbsp. oil or lard
• 4 slices bacon, chopped (optional)
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/4 c. raisins
• 75-85g gingersnaps/gingernuts (6-7 gingernuts), crushed
• 1 Tbsp. honey

Directions

1. Combine the onion, carrot, leek, garlic, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, juniper berries, cloves, peppercorns, salt, sugar, wine, vinegar, and water and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
4. Nestle the roast into the marinade, cover, and refrigerate for 4-7 days, turning each day if the marinade does not completely cover the meat.
5. When ready to cook, remove the meat from the marinade and set aside.
6. Strain the marinade and reserve both the solids and the liquids.
7. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
8. Add the beef and sear on all sides. Set aside.
9. Add the bacon (if using) to the now-empty pot and cook.
10. Add the vegetables and sauté for ~5 minutes.
11. Add the flour and cook until no longer raw (3-4 minutes).
12. Pour in the reserved marinade, raisins, gingersnaps/gingernuts, and honey and bring to a boil.
13. Add beef, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2-4 hours if cooking on the stovetop. Otherwise, transfer everything to a slow cooker and cook on "high" for ~6 hours. (Or use an InstantPot-style multi-cooker to do the whole thing in place.)
14. Once beef is cooked through and tender, remove from the pot and set aside.
15. If desired, remove the bay leaves, juniper berries, and cloves from the liquid and purée the veggies into it to make a thick gravy. Otherwise, adjust consistency by mixing in a cornstarch or flour slurry and boiling until gravy thickens to desired consistency.
16. Adjust seasoning to taste.
17. Slice beef and serve with the gravy (and veggies if you chose not to purée them).
18. Serve with a starch (potatoes, bread, etc.) and rotkohl (sweet-and-sour red cabbage) or another vegetable dish of your choice.

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¹ I couldn't find any red wine vinegar, so I just used white wine vinegar. Either is fine. I think that cider vinegar would also be good in a pinch. ^Back

I made this a few weeks back, but I didn't get around to writing it up at the time. It's ideally made with nectarine halves grilled on the barbecue, but you can also roast them in the oven for a few minutes to achieve a similar effect. Very simple, but quite tasty!

Photo goes here.

Grilled Nectarines with Brie

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 4 nectarines, halved and pitted
• olive oil
• 150g brie or camembert

Directions

1. Prepare grill for direct heat cooking and brush the grates with oil or preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
2. Brush the nectarines with olive oil.
3. Grill nectarines for ~5 minutes, turning once or twice, or place in a baking dish and roast for 5-8 minutes, turning once or twice.
4. Arrange cheese and nectarines in a serving dish or plate and serve.

I haven't gotten much baking done this year, but I really wanted to try a few more feijoa recipes and I finally found a little time and energy to do so today. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but it smells delicious!

Photo goes here.

Feijoa Slice with Coconut Crumble Topping

Slightly adapted from NZ Women's Weekly

Ingredients

• 220g salted butter, softened
• 200g sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 c. soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. dessicated (fine shredded) coconut¹
• 1/2 c. thread (coarse shredded) coconut
• 10 large feijoas², peeled and sliced
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Grease and line a 18x20cm baking tray and preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Cream butter with first measure of sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in vanilla.
4. Sift in flour and baking powder and stir in with spatula.
5. Stir in dessicated (fine) coconut.
6. Separate out ~1/3 of the mixture into a separate bowl and set aside. (This was ~245g for me.)
7. Press the larger measure of dough into the prepared baking tray.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10-12 minutes (until just starting to brown).
9. Meanwhile, mix the thread (coarse) coconut into the remaining dough and chill for 10 minutes.
10. Toss the feijoas with the remaining sugar and cinnamon.
11. Once the crust is par-baked, dump the macerated feijoas on top of it and spread into an even layer.
12. Crumble the coconut mixture on top.
13. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.

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¹ I didn't have any of the fine dessicated coconut, so I just used "tread" coconut for both coconut portions. It didn't mix into the crust as well, but I think it'll still be fine. ^Back
2 My feijoas were very large indeed and I still found that I needed all 10 to make enough filling for my slice. If you have average-sized feijoas, I'd recommend using up to 20 for your filling. ^Back

Pyaaz Tamatar Gosht (Onion-Tomato Lamb Curry)

Reiver found discount lamb at the butcher's last week, so I turned it into a tasty curry! I haven't had a chance to do many lamb curries, so this was a treat. It was also very easy. Definitely going on the "favourites" list!

Pyzza Tamatar Gosht

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp. ground cayenne or Kashmiri chilies
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 4 tsp. ginger paste
• 4 tsp. garlic paste
• 450g stewing lamb
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 4 cardamom pods (pref. black, but green is also okay)
• 2 bay leaves
• 250-400mL canned tomato (pasta) sauce¹
• 1/4 c. fried onions²
• 1/4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine the coriander, cumin, salt, paprika, cayenne/Kashmiri chilies, turmeric, ginger paste, and garlic paste and toss with the lamb to coat. Let stand for 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil over medium to medium-high heat.
3. Add the cardamom pods and bay leaves and sizzle for 20-30 seconds.
4. Add the lamb and sear for 5-8 minutes.
5. Add the tomato sauce, fried onions, and water and bring to a boil.
6. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

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¹ The original recipe only calls for 1 c. of tomato sauce. I used ~350mL and it was great and Reiver said that he wouldn't've minded it with even more sauce, so I think I'll just use the whole tin next time. Follow your heart! ^Back
2 Iyer calls for 1/4 c. of fried onion paste here. I didn't really want to make fried onion paste, so I just tossed in 1/4 c. of fried onions along with 1/4 c. of water. This seemed to work very well and I wouldn't hesitate to use this approach again. ^Back

Lasoon Urad chi Dal (Garlicky Black Lentil Dal)

This is a very simple, fairly quick-cooking dal of skinned split black lentils (mapte beans). Iyer advises that, in a pinch, moong dal (skinned split mung beans) will also work.

Since I wanted this to be a one-pot dinner, I added a bit of spinach to my dal, just to give us something green on the plate and round things out a bit. I think it worked quite well, but the spinach is, of course, both optional and not part of the original recipe.

Photo goes here.

Lasoon Urad chi Dal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned split black lentils (mapte beans/urad dal)
• 3 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 1/2 Tbsp. garlic paste)
• 3-4 fresh green serrano or finger chilies, cut into 5mm slices
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• ~1 c. chopped frozen spinach (optional)
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Rinse the lentils thoroughly.
2. Place in a pot with the water and bring to a boil.
3. Skim off any foam that forms and stir in the turmeric.
4. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, melt the ghee over medium-high heat.
6. Add the cumin seeds and sizzle for 5-10 seconds.
7. Add the onion, reduce heat to medium and cook for ~5 minutes.
8. Add the garlic and chilies and cook for another minute or two. Set aside.
9. Once lentils are just tender, scrape the onion mixture into the pot and stir to combine. Swish out the pan with a little water¹ and stir that into the pot as well.
10. Stir in the salt and spinach (if using) and simmer, uncovered, for another 5-10 minutes.
11. Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice and cilantro.
12. Serve over rice. Preferably with a side of papads/papadums.

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¹ The original recipe called for using a full cup of additional water to rinse out the pan, but I wanted my dal to be fairly thick, so I just used a small amount of water for the pan since I felt like the cooked lentils were already at a good consistency. ^Back

Reiver found a soup recipe online the other day and we decided to give it a go. It's very simple, but did make a tasty soup. Although I'd be tempted to swap out the turmeric for ras el hanout next time.

While I tried to stick pretty close to the recipe for my first time making it, I did end up making a few small changes. I used whole (skin-on, bone-in) chicken thighs rather than skinless, boneless simply because that's what I had on hand. I used a much smaller quantity of dried herbs instead of the large quantity of fresh because, again, I was working with what was on hand. And I dumped in a bunch of frozen spinach toward the end of cooking, just to give it a vegetable and make it a little more nutritionally complete. I also left out most of the olive oil since I felt that there was sufficient fat from the chicken skin.

Red Lentil Soup with Chicken

Ingredients

• 600g chicken thighs
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 onions, halved and sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced (or 2 Tbsp. garlic paste)
• 2L water
• 1 chicken bouillon cube (optional)
• 1 1/2 c. skinned split brown lentils (red lentils/Egyptian lentils/masoor dal)
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric (and/or ral el hanout for a more complex flavour)
• 1 c. fresh mixed herbs (parsley, dill, mint, etc.)
• 1 c. chopped frozen spinach (optional)
• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions

1. Pat the chicken dry and season to taste with salt and pepper to taste. (I recommend ~1/2 tsp. of each.)
2. Heat the oil over medium to medium-high heat.
3. Add the chicken, skin-side down, and sear until skin is crisp.
4. Flip the thighs over and sear briefly on the other side.
5. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside.
6. Add the onions, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until soft and caramelized (~30 minutes).
7. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes.
8. Return the chicken to the pot and add the water and bouillon cube (if using).
9. Increase heat and bring to a boil.
10. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is cooked through (~15 minutes).
11. Shred the chicken and return it to the pot, discarding the skin and bones.
12. Rinse the lentils and add them to the pot along with the turmeric (and/or ras el hanout, if using).
13. Simmer until the lentils are just tender (~10 minutes).
14. Stir in the herbs and spinach (if using), adjust seasoning to taste, simmer for a minute or two, then remove from heat.
15. Stir the lemon juice into the yogurt and set aside.
16. Serve the soup topped with the lemony yogurt.

I needed some Old Bay seasoning in a hurry, so I just grabbed the first recipe I could find off the Internet. I had to improvise slightly due to limited supplies on hand, but I'm actually fairly happy with how it came out. I think it was a bit more vibrant than the commercial Old Bay I bought a few years back.

Update: Now that I'm not in so much of a hurry, I've had a chance to look at some other Old Bay recipes and I found one from Daring Gourmet that looks quite interesting. It includes most of the same spices as the Kitchn recipe, but in different proportions. Although it does swap out the ground cayenne for red pepper flakes and uses sweet paprika instead of hot paprika. It also includes several spices that the Kitchn recipe omits. These include: ground ginger, mace, allspice, and cardamom. I think these sound like interesting additions and may experiment with adding some or all of them to my current mix.

I've left the first recipe I used here to reflect what I actually did. But I am going to post an alternate recipe below it that leans a little more on the Daring Gourmet approach.

Ersatz Old Bay

Slightly adapted from The Kitchn

Ingredients

• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. celery seeds
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp. white peppercorns²
• 1 Tbsp. hot paprika¹
• 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1/2 Tbsp. mustard powder
• 3/4 tsp. ground cayenne (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions

1. If desired, lightly toast the bay leaves in a dry pan until they become brittle and fragrant. This will enhance the flavour slightly and, more importantly, should help them grind more readily.
2. Combine the salt, celery seeds, peppercorns, and bay leaves in a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
3. Add the paprikas, mustard, cayenne (if using), cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and stir to combine.
4. Store in a cool, dry place, preferably in an airtight container.

Variations

Alternate Old Bay (milder, sweeter, more bay-forward)

Ingredients

• 5 dried bay leaves
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. celery seeds
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp. white peppercorns
• 1/8 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods)
• 1 Tbsp. sweet paprika
• 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tsp. mustard powder
• 3/4 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground mace
• 1/8 tsp. ground allspice

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¹ The original recipe calls for a bunch of hot paprika and a little ground cayenne. I didn't have any hot paprika, but I did have ground Kashmiri chilies. So I just replaced the hot paprika with Kashmiri chilies and omitted the cayenne. It still seemed to come out a good deal spicier than commercial Old Bay, but I quite liked it. That said, I would use a light hand when applying it to recipes. I think that, given the increased spice level, you may end up finding you don't need quite as much as you would the commercial stuff. ^Back
2 The bag of peppercorns I had were a mix of black, white, and pink and I didn't have any separate white peppercorns, so I just used a full tsp. of the blend. Since the mix was mostly black peppercorns, this meant that the balance was slightly off, but I figured it'd be close enough. ^Back