Columbus Foodie

My mother passed along some of my Oma’s recipes, and although I can translate them in bits and pieces, I’m having a bit of trouble with some of the words. I’d love to be able to make some of her dishes, so if anyone can help out, I’d be truly appreciative.

I’ve consolidated all of the handwritten recipes into a downloadable PDF file which is right here. Thank you, everyone, ahead of time, for whatever help you can provide.

Yesterday, I saw a red cabbage at the farmer’s market - and I thought back to the recipes that MY Oma used to make, and remembered that red cabbage kraut was one of her favorites. So even though this recipe is called “Oma’s Red Cabbage”, it’s not one of my Oma’s recipes, although it very well could be because it tastes nearly identical.

I can’t believe how quickly it came together. From raw cabbage to really tasty sweet-sour kraut in about an hour. Goes great with pork, to which my family can attest (we had it tonight with mashed ‘taters and mushroom-stuffed pork tenderloin with a port wine reduction). Lots of flavor, perfect if you’re trying to lose weight.

Oma’s Red Cabbage
recipe courtesy Recipezaar

1 red cabbage, shredded
1 medium onion, shredded
1 tablespoon Crisco
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup vinegar
5 tablespoons red currant jelly
salt and pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (more if you like the taste)

Put all together in a large pot. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

My earliest food memory is from when I was about a year or two old, perched in my high chair, watching Mr. Rogers on two TVs at the same time, happily munching away on spinach. My Oma’s creamed spinach in particular. I practically grew up on this stuff, and it was my favorite food ever for many years. I’ve had tons of creamed spinach since then, some laden with so much fat I could feel my arteries clogging as I ate it, but none tasted quite as good as this old-fashioned granny recipe. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a lot healthier than it should be. The mouth feel is right, and you don’t miss the cheese or sour cream at all. But it’s definitely a recipe I’m proud to share with the Apples & Thyme blogging event, which celebrates time in the kitchen with our mothers and grandmothers.

Creamed Spinach

10 oz. package of frozen chopped spinach
1 tbsp. butter
1-2 tbsp. flour
Maggi, to taste
Garlic Powder, to taste

Cook spinach according to package instructions, and then drain, reserving cooking water for later use. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan, and then add flour to make paste and allow to cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until roux is browned. Add cooking water and whisk, taking off heat when liquid is uniformed and thickened into a cream sauce. Season with Maggi and garlic powder to taste, and serve.

If there’s one recipe that brings me right back to my childhood, standing on a stool in the kitchen looking over my Oma’s shoulder, this is it. This is a dish I remember fondly, and it was one of my favorites - so much so that my Oma would have to watch me like a hawk lest I pilfer away the dumplings by eating them raw. The concept of Markklosschen (Bone Marrow Dumplings) sounds strange to most in this day and age, but it takes the best part of the cow, where all of the flavor is at, and condenses it into meatball size. I had to try to find the recipe from memory, and had a bit of difficulty (trial and error, I’ll need to keep working on it) - the fleisch bruhe (meat consomme) and fladle (egg pancake noodles) came out exactly how I remembered, but the dumpling recipe I used ended up much tougher than I remembered. If you try to replicate the dish, use this recipe for the Markklosschen instead - it sounds much closer to my grandmothers recipe than the one I used. It’s a two day process - you make the consomme on the first day and allow it to chill overnight (this lets the fat rise and harden on the surface, so you can skim it off). You make the rest of the components on the day you’re making it. It is very time consuming, but well worth making. There’s enough consomme from this recipe that you can use half for the soup and freeze the other half.

The first day is all about making the consomme - you want to get a pair of huge marrow bones (they look like this and are available at Bluescreek in the North Market for a reasonable price) and about 9 lbs. of cross-cut shanks/soup beef (I got mine through Flying J Farms at the Clintonville Farmer’s Market, with a few pounds of supplemental ones that I got on discount at Giant Eagle). Harvest all of the soft marrow from the marrow bones (if you meet resistance, leave it be) and set aside. Leave the marrow in the cross-cut shanks intact, and then proceed with the recipe from here.

Fleischbruhe (Meat Broth)
recipe source unknown - found here

9 lb Bones and meat scraps; from beef, pork and/or veal (I used all beef)
8 qt Water
2 md Onions; char-burned (not sure what that is - just used regular onions)
2 ea Parsely roots; quartered (I omitted this)
4 md Carrots; quartered
4 ea Celery stalks w/leaves; cut in chunks
2 ea Leeks; trimmed, cut in chunks
18 ea Peppercorns, black
4 ea Cloves, whole
1 ea Bay leaf
2 tb Salt

Preheat oven to 375F. Place bones and meat in large roasting pan - roast
until browned (took about an hour). Place water, roasted bones and meat in large stockpot.

Cover, bring to a boil - skim foam from surface until clear. Reduce heat - cook, uncovered, 1 hour. Add remaining ingredients, recover - simmer 3 hours.

Strain broth, discarding meat scraps, bones and cooked vegetables. Cool, pour into quart or pint containers with tight lids. Refrigerate, lift fat with fork and discard. Refrigerate 2 days or freeze 3 months. Bring broth to a full boil before using. (Important: Salt and pepper to taste!)

–

My grandmother used to not discard the leftover meat (she was a frugal woman), and instead (according to my mother) would serve it with boiled potatoes and creamed cabbage. Paul wasn’t too crazy for that idea so I ate what meat I could as a protein snack and gave the rest to the dogs for a treat.

Either way, after chilling overnight, the recipe produces a very flavorful consomme that gels beautifully. Just look at this wiggle:

I prepared the markklosschen early in the afternoon (again, don’t use the recipe I used - use the one I linked to above) and then rolled them out into small balls in preparation for putting them into the soup. I put them in the fridge after they were rolled out.

As I was heating up the consomme (I used about a gallon or so) on the stovetop, I started the batter for the fladle. After mixing it up, it should be a little thicker than crepe batter.

Fladle
recipe courtesy Recipe Cottage

200 g flour (1 3/4 cups)
2 eggs
1/4 l milk (1 cup plus 1 Tbsp)
1 pinch salt
Fat for frying

Mix the flour and milk, then add the eggs, and season with salt.
In a skillet, melt a little fat over medium heat. As soon as the
fat is hot, hold the skillet at a slight angle and pour in the
batter in such a manner that the whole bottom of the skillet is
covered with a thin layer. As soon as the bottom of the pancake
develops yellow spots, carefully loosen the edges with an egg
turner, then flip the pancake to cook the other side. Once the
‘Flaedle’ is done, set it aside for cooling.

If the ‘Flaedle’ is to be used in ‘Flaedle’-soup, roll it up and
cut it into very thin slices. Put into hot broth, and adjust
seasoning to taste, with nutmeg, chopped parsley or chives, etc.

(BTW, if you sweeten the batter with some sugar, and add some sliced apples, you have apfelpfankuchen (apple pancakes), another one of my favorites.)

By now, the consomme should be boiling - put in the markklosschen and turn down the heat to touch. Cook them until they float to the top and are tender inside. Think of them as compact matzoh balls and go for the same (but just a tad denser) consistency.

After frying the fladle in oil until gold-light brown, you want to cool them down and then roll them up and slice them thinly. You’ll end up with a big batch of “egg noodles”

To finish the soup, toss the sliced fladle into the consomme with the markklosschen. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Not a perfect rendition of Oma’s dish, but damn close. I’ll keep working on it. When I was talking to my mother on the phone today, she told me she found some of Oma’s handwritten recipes (in German) that she’s going to scan in and send to me to see if I can decipher them. I can’t wait! Wish me luck…

The Apples & Thyme food blogging event asks us to celebrate the influence of our mothers and grandmothers in the kitchen. Needless to say, my German Oma (great-grandmother) has had the most influence on my cooking - I spent the formative years of my life standing on a stool next to her and learning everything she did in the kitchen hands on. I cannot remember a time in my life where I didn’t help her in the kitchen in one form or another - when I was a toddler, it may have been as simple as snapping off the ends of the green beans for her. Later on, it was making the dough for kuchen or mixing up the meat for frikadelle.

One of the dishes that has always remained mysterious to me, though, is sauerbraten. She didn’t make it too often - I think because it was a multi-day, somewhat time consuming recipe. So, unfortunately, I don’t have her recipe. But through trial and error, I’ve found one that comes close. I followed a suggested modification to make it in a crock pot, and it came out beautifully. It was delicious served on a bed of home made spaetzle.

Sauerbraten
recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com

2 c. cider vinegar
2 c. water
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
6 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 onions, diced
4 1/2 lbs. rump roast
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
3/4 c. crushed gingersnaps
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. sour cream

In large saucepan over medium heat, combine cider vinegar, water, brown sugar, cloves, allspice, salt, pepper, peppercorns, bay leaf, and onion. Heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbles appear at edges, but do not boil.

Poke deep holes in roast and place in non-metal bowl. Pour vinegar mixture over roast. Cover and refrigerate for four days, turning once daily.

On morning of fifth day put the meat and marinade into the crockpot, and cook it on low for 8 hours or until meat is fall-apart tender. Remove the meat from the pot, and whisk the brown sugar, crushed gingersnaps and sour cream into the liquid. Put the meat back in and serve, preferably with spaetzle.

As I’ve suffered through the worst of the last week, some words of wisdom from my Oma, tucked away years and years ago, echoed in my head. “There will come a time in your life, Rebecca, when you’ll try to eat and be unable to tolerate any food at all. When that time comes, the only thing you can eat and tolerate will be saltines.”

Apparently, when she came over on a big ship from Germany in the 1940’s, she got one hell of a case of seasickness, and had said the only thing she ate for 3 weeks (and would stay down) was saltines and water. How right she was.

Having an iron stomach, I never thought I would see the day where it would revolt on me, rejecting pretty much anything I gave it, even water. But apparently, one of the side effects of migraine medication was severe nausea, so in addition to feeling like I was hit by a baseball bat, I got sick as a dog whenever I tried to eat or drink anything.

I’m happy to say things are much better now. The headache (other than some minor ache behind the eyes that feels a bit like eye strain) has been gone for about 2 days now, and the nausea has been gone for about the same amount of time. I have been able to eat little things other than saltines now, like scrambled eggs, cream of wheat, soup, etc. with no problem.

I’ve had serious buyers remorse in the past week. After my first weight loss surgery (a RNY in 2001), I never had the level of restriction that was supposed to come with it. In the end, I was happy about that - even though I didn’t lose all my weight, I had kept off over 100 lbs. And was able to eat like a normal person who hadn’t had weight loss surgery. This surgery was supposed to be completely malabsorptive - he wasn’t touching my pouch at all, and it was supposed to be an easy recovery - I just had to let the intestines rest for a couple of weeks, and would be back up to eating to my previous capacity, just not absorbing it all.

I hadn’t bargained on the hernia repair and the mesh that comes with it bringing a level of restriction that I didn’t even have with the first surgery. Everything in my abdomen is so tight at the moment (and add to it the fact I’m pretty much corseted in a binder for the next 3 months), that my actual capacity is 2-4 oz. at a time. Think of a meal for me as ordering a cup (not bowl) of soup, and only being able to eat half of it before I’m uncomfortably full. I know this level of restriction won’t last forever, but for the time being, it sucks.

I’ve compared it to that episode of The Twighlight Zone where after a nuclear war, the person had all the time in the world to read, their passion in life, only to break their glasses and be unable to read at all. In a way, I had this surgery so I could live to enjoy food on a more healthy level for the rest of my life - at least at the moment, I feel as if I’ve broken my stomach. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate irony - finally getting to a healthy weight, but unable to ever enjoy food again? If it turns out that way, I think I would have rather been fat and happy.

But things are on an upswing. We’re leaving Brazil for home on Tuesday. I’m finally reading and enjoying food blogs again. I’ve been able to branch out a little bit food-wise (will be posting about the wonderful soup we got here soon), and I should be back to normal, at least blog-wise, in the next week or so. Thank you all for your well wishes, and for bearing with me during the hiatus where food was the last thing I wanted to think about.

Well, you all remember when I made plum cake a few months ago, right? Well, the recipe also works for apple cake as well. And here is my interpretation of my grandmother’s apfelkuchen.

You use the same sweet dough as the plum cake, but line it with sliced apples instead, and sprinkle it with a crumb made out of melted butter, flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Bake it as you would the plum cake. Delicious.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I was asking for a local source for Damson plums so I could make plum cake? Well, I found them, but where I least expected to!

I found them at Kauffman’s Fruit Farm and Market in Bird-In-Hand, PA. I was hoping to get some peaches, maybe a little apple cider, but these beauties just hopped out at me. My eyes went wide, I pulled on Paul’s sleeve and pointed and said “Look!” - his eyes followed, and he asked, “Damsons?” - I told him, “If not, they’re close enough!” - Needless to say, we left the store with 3 quarts of these puppies.

Come to find out that they are Italian Prune Plums, a European plum which is smaller and tarter than the sweeter Japanese plums we’re used to. These aren’t meant for eating out of hand, but are wonderful in cakes and in jam. I also found out that the season is just starting (I got some of the very first harvest), so you may see these in our local farmer’s markets - keep an eye out.

Either way, the plums wouldn’t keep until the weekend, so once we got home, Paul and I did an unusual midweek baking/jam making session. We worked on the cake together - he with the yeast dough, and I with the the plums, and made this wonderful Traditional German Plum Cake (Zwetschgenkuchen) that is just like my Oma’s was, right down to the slightly sweet yeast crust. This recipe is definitely a keeper - the crust holds up well to the juicy plums. We’re even going to try to replicate Oma’s Apfelkuchen based on this recipe.

I overestimated the amount of plums we’d need (we would have been fine with 2 quarts), so we had tons left over, and we made a batch of Damson Plum Jam that tastes wondeful, but is a little runnier than I like because it was made without pectin and Paul assumed it was done when it hit the gel point and took it off a bit prematurely. Either way, it will be great drizzled over fresh biscuits, or used as the base of a plum sauce.

I hope I see these locally in the weeks to come, because there are still so many other plum recipes I’d love to try. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Yay, it’s that time of year again, and Liz of Pocket Farm has brought back One Local Summer for 2007, and I’m gung ho to get started! To focus on eating local (and I’m defining local as anything from Ohio, since we’re pretty much smack dab in the middle of the state and 100 miles to each border), we’re asked to make one meal per week with all local ingredients.

For the first week, I decided to make something I’ve blogged about before (Oma’s Layered Ground Beef & Cabbage, but this time with all local ingredients. And this time, it actually came out in layers like it was supposed to!

The cabbage came from the North Market Farmers market (can’t remember the particular vendor’s name), the ground beef from OMC Farms at the Worthington Market, the milk was from an Ohio creamery (already tossed the container, but I got it at Whole Foods), the rolls were baked on premises at The Anderson’s in Dublin, the butter was Ohio Amish Roll butter that I also got at The Anderson’s, the eggs were from 2Silos at the Clintonville Farmers Market - the only things that weren’t local were the seasonings (caraway, salt, pepper, maggi).

It was so easy to turn this recipe into a local one, using ingredients that are in season. Since it’s still early in the season, I’m sure I’ll get a little more creative as different produce items come available.

Do any of you have old favorites that are easy to make with local ingredients?

My Husband Cooks is hosting their first food blog event - Food Bloggers’ Geography #1: Southern Style. In this event, MHC asks us to blog about predominately “southern” food - not limited to the US south.

I decided to follow my roots back to South Germany, with a dish created by my Oma who was from the Hesse region of Germany (right next door to Bavaria). This is a hearty 30-minute or less dish that is sure to please even the pickiest eater. Definitely not a diet food, but pure heaven on the plate. I think of it as Germany’s answer to spaghetti carbonara.

Spaetzle mit Speck und Eier (Noodles with Bacon and Eggs)

8 oz. dry spaetzle (or make your own
6 eggs, beaten well
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 lb. double smoked bacon (Schaller & Weber), coarsely diced

Prepare spatzele according to package instructions. Meanwhile, saute bacon until some fat is rendered and bacon is browned and mostly crisp. Add butter, allow to melt until entire content of pan is sizzling. Add cooked and drained spaetzle, mix well with bacon/butter mixture until all spaetzle is well coated and bacon is well distributed. Keep frying until surface of spaetzle is hot enough to cook egg. Pour in egg, and stir often until eggs are completely set.