The answer? Yes!
Although most everything I ate in Munich was delicious (with the exception of a weird meal at a kabob shack), Only a few things were really inspiring.
Yes, the head cheese was fabulous, and I will -- someday -- make it but only a few things made me scramble for a notebook.
And scramble I did. The things they do with cabbage amaze me. Sauerkraut that's as delicious as my own, raw cabbage salad and braised cabbage salad.
I got one a server at Hofbrauhaus in Munich to tell me how she made 'cabbage salad' (krautsalat). It seems like a 'half sour' version of sauerkraut. She shreds the cabbage and salts it. Rests it for an hour or so while she cooks bacon. Press the excess water from the cabbage and season with oil, finely chopped bacon, and caraway seeds.
I'll probably modify it adding a little vinegar or Reisling for flavor and I'll maybe shred an onion with the cabbage.
The Produce
I had a terrific visit to the Portland Farmers Market this morning. I wanted to see the peeps, help out (as a volunteer) and score some perfect produce. So many possibilities! The produce right now is amazing. Apples, tomatoes, winter squash, Brussels sprouts, melons and tons of peppers.
Dig the beautiful Red Kuri squash and the head of cabbage that is actually as large than my head.
The squash will be roasted and made into soup with coconut milk and probably a little onion. Maybe pumpkin seeds, I dunno.
I got potatoes and onions to make German-style potato dumplings (reiberknödel -- also known as kartoffelknödel )
The dumplings should be easy also. Cook and grate potatoes, mix them with eggs and flour, form into a ball and gently poach for 20 minutes. Truthfully, the process reminds me of gnocchi.
The problem is that I have all this lovely produce and no time to do anything with it!
Market today, work tonight. Brunch with Jay Lake and tribe tomorrow, work tomorrow night.... so much fun + working, so little time to cook. <sigh>
It'll be a long 72 hours until my next days off.
Ciao,
Nancy
PS If my "Jersey Girl in Portland" FaceBook page gets 70 likes, I think I get a free t-shirt. Seriously, I use the page for miniature versions of the things I post here. Check it out and if you like it, don't be shy. Like it!
Thanks--NS
