Farmers Markets in Germany

Some of the things I like best about the springtime in Germany are the farmers markets.  To be sure, there are farmers markets all year long, but they seem to be tired and withdrawn in the cold of winter.  The warm weather appears, with its fragrant rains, turning to sunny skies and suddenly the market places spring up like mushrooms.  Seemingly every village throws up banners, smiles break out like rainbows, and the culinary world comes out of hibernation.

Every market I go to is new, even if I’ve been there before.  Cheeses I haven’t tasted.  Spicy wursts I haven’t smelled.  The aroma of roasting nuts.  And, most of all, bursts of red, yellow, deep purples, and bright greens covering every stand and every cart.  For someone who likes to cook, the possibilities overwhelm the imagination.  “Let’s see, I can make tomato chutney with those, some grilled eggplants might be nice.  OH, check out those yellow squash and the zucchinis!”  I effortlessly plan stews and salads, desserts and grilled vegetables.  I grab several bunches of cut flowers to decorate the house. 

Then my wife stomps into my reverie with her high-heeled jackboots.  “That makes 16 meals so far.  You that hungry or do you plan on feeding the French Army?”

“I’d never invite the French. They’d eat all the food and criticize my technique.”  However, she has drawn my attention to the five shopping bags I’m lugging, all brimming with plump loaves of crusty bread, redolent fruits, fragrant cheeses, and vegetables in every available style and color.  Well, it is kinda hard to know when to stop.  Money in my pocket.  Time on my hands.  Mind in the kitchen.

My wife nods.  “The boys will probably help you make a dent in the provisions.”

Boys indeed.  They’re now men, with the kind of rapacious appetites that cause a school of piranhas to stare in awestruck wonder.  Whole families of swine are known to wail in terror when one of my sons mentions barbeque.

Well, it is a match made in culinary heaven.  I like to cook.  I have people to cook for.  With that bit of comfort, I stroll on, stopping to admire some tree ripened apricots and shiny skinned nectarines.  I do have another empty shopping bag.

A few recommendations: 

Kaiserslautern : farmers market, Tues and Sat, Stiffsplatz

Saarbrücken farmers market Sat  0900-1600, St Johanner Markt

Homburg, farmers market, Tues and Fri morning, Marktplatz

"What To Do With A...": Salmon Melts

I haven't done a post in this series for a while, mainly because I haven't had so many bits & pieces hanging around my fridge, freezer, and pantry lately. But, some time ago, I did purchase a can of sockeye salmon on sale for $2.99 - and it was a larger can, not one of the tuna-sized cans. It was a deal I couldn't refuse, so I went for it. And the can sat there, and sat there...I also had half a brick of cream cheese in the freezer, left over from some long-forgotten baking project. And then I did a column for Bread 'n Molasses featuring my mom's salmon spread, an old family Christmas treat (upcoming in the November issue) ...And inspiration hit! If you can have tuna melts, why not salmon melts? Off I went to get some mozzarella and some English muffins.

Here is what I did:

1 can (large) sockeye salmon
1/2 brick cream cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp dried dill
3 sliced green onions.
a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce
a dash of lemon juice

Mix together. Toast an English muffin about half way. Put salmon filling on muffin. Top with cheese. Broil until cheese is all melting & bubbling.
This was fantastic! If you think cheese on salmon is weird, ask yourself: is cheese on tuna any less weird, when you think about it? This worked and was delicious. I would definitely make this again!

Pork Tenderloin, Starring....Huckleberries!

So this is my first kick at the can using my lovely huckleberry bounty, locally picked by yours truly. I wanted to do something different; muffins are so pedestrian! I whipped this pork tenderloin idea up on my own...divine inspiration out in the berry patch or something... My dad donated the tenderloins, of which there were two, and initially four were supposed to partake in the meal, but then plans fell apart, as they do once in a while. So, I knew there would be a ton of leftovers, I just didn't yet know if that was a good thing or not. Here's how it went.

For the rub:

1/3 cup brown sugar
ginger, cinnamon, allspice, garlic powder, salt & pepper - all to taste (I didn't measure)

For the filling:

1 package (140g) unripened goat's cheese (i.e. not feta), softened
a whole bunch of huckleberries
4 cups of spinach
3 cloves garlic
1tsp or so of the rub mixture

I was going to just put the spinach in raw, but decided against it. In fact, I wasn't going to put any spinach in at all, but I had so much left over from a salad I made that I decided what the hell. When my SIL does pork loin, she usually puts spinach in the stuffing and it's always awesome. Anyhoo, I sauteed the spinach because I wanted to cook the water out of it first. It was worth it to spend the extra few minutes to do this, I think. I sauteed the spinach in olive oil and the garlic.After the spinach was wilted, I added it to the goat's cheese & huckleberries. What I got was not particularly appetizing...But this was an experiment after all, right?Yeah, great colour, eh? At this point I was thinking, Hmmm...was this a good idea? But I soldiered on, and stuffed the tenderloins, after making a cut along the length in order to flatten them out and create a pocket for the filling.After that came the rub...I realized too late I should have rubbed first and filled second, but we live and learn, don't we?

Then, truss truss baby. You can see my blue silicone trussing thingies in this picture. Very cool gadget.Then into a 375F oven, covered with foil for about half an hour, then off with the foil and continue baking until an internal temperature of 180F was reached. And voila...While my meat rested (it took about an hour to cook, and I set my fancy-wancy thermometer with probe 180F so it would beep when the temp was reached) I made a sauce, using, what else? Well, yes, huckleberries, but also POM! The last of my POM (I have one coupon left). This was the one with blueberry juice in it as well.

Pomegranate Huckleberry Sauce

juices from the roasted pork loin
about 1/2 cup POM juice
2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 cup brown sugar
a whole bunch of huckleberries

I dissolved the cornstarch in the POM as the drippings, brown sugar, and ginger came to a boil in a small saucepan. Once the drippings boiled, I added the huckleberries and the POM. I simmered for a few minutes... And forgot to take a pic of the sauce. Sorry. It looked like...blueberry syrup. Use your imagination.

Slicing the tenderloin proved difficult - it was very delicate and the filling so soft that it squished out the sides. This is what I got:Yeah...presentation-wise, I don't think this is a winner.The overall verdict, however: a hit! I loved it right away. Everything went really well together, from the rub on down. The sauce was great. The spinach, however, I could have lived without. It didn't really add any flavour and made the presentation less than stellar. I'd leave it out next time. Additionally, I would use feta cheese the next time, for a couple of reasons. A) I think the flavour contrast between saltiness of the feta and tart-sweet of the berries would be killer. B) It's a firmer cheese and would probably slice & present better than this goat's cheese.

My dad took a bit more convincing. He's not used to having sweet things mixed with his otherwise savoury dishes, and I get that. It's not everyone's cup of tea. He did, however, have seconds, and by the end of the meal, he was converted! He has half of the second loin we didn't even touch for leftovers, as do I. (I served this meal, by the way, with a barley & bean salad that will be the subject of an upcoming Magazine Monday post.)

Definitely a successful experiment! With a bit of tweaking, I might just make this my signature dish! And - I still have a ton of huckleberries frozen for future kitchen experiments!

Enjoy!

Corn with Feta Butter

Sometimes the simplest things are the very best, eh? Take for instance this little side dish recipe that came from the August issue of Gourmet.

I love corn on the cob and often bemoan the fact that I don't live near any decent source of local corn on the cob. The corn down east was awesome! You could buy right off the side of the farm it grew on, picked that day. Peaches & cream was my favourite. If you couldn't go out into the countryside and get it, farmer's markets always had it, too. The best corn I've ever had came from the suburbs around Chicago for like 25 cents a cob.

25 cents a cob? I am not kidding. I got 2 ears of corn for $1.49 at the local overpriced grocery store yesterday. And it wasn't peaches & cream. And it kinda sucked. This is why I very rarely buy corn anymore (the other reason is that it's genetically modified and I'm trying to cut down on my GM foods).

Luckily, this feta butter made up for the suckage. I didn't use mint, but rather picked some cilantro from my garden - a herb I'll take any day over mint.

This was da bomb! And so simple! It was truly a treat, despite the mediocre corn. I had some BBQ salmon with it and it was a great meal. Definitely a keeper recipe.

Kamloops Trip, Food Edition, Part 3

On Sunday, after a breakfast of homemade egg mcmuffins made by S, my dad picked me up and drove me down the highway to my friend Anita's place. She has a ranch style home on a large property in the countryside just beyond Kamloops. I actually lived there for a few weeks when I first left my husband in May 2005, but hadn't visited since about spring of 2006. Lots of changes, but this one was the most impressive for me:This is their brand new fridge/freezer combo: freezer on the left, fridge on the right. Isn't it amazing? Trust me, it's even more impressive in real person! I was continually drooling over this the whole time I was there!

For dinner, Richard made a Mexican dish of yummy rice, sauted peppers, BBQ chicken with lime and cumin, and sliced avocado. It was excellent, and Richard is an amazing cook.On Monday, Anita and I went into Salmon Arm to run some errands and visit Gort's Gouda. This is a really cool cheese factory on a farm and you can walk around and visit the cows and sheep, sample the wide variety of gouda on offer, and have an actual tour of the factory. We visited the animals and sampled some cheese but we didn't have the tour. I actually used to live not far from here and often went to Gort's, and I can honestly say that they make superb cheese. Apart from gouda, they also make quark, different sheep cheeses, fresh cheese curds, sheep's feta and other stuff.

There were lots of animals to see. Visitors can wander around the barn where the cows, calves, sheep, and lambs live - and who doesn't love calves and lambs? There were plenty of babies to see! The St. Croix sheep herd had many lambs, and of course they were so cute. Also, there were lots of calves, which were also very cute. Many of the animals are pretty friendly and would come up to use to be stroked or to suck on our fingers, and while I'm not a fan of animal phlegm all over my hands, I was OK with it because I always pack hand sanitizer with me. Lambs make me smile...Calves make me smile...Gouda makes me smile...I bought a small round of Italian-flavoured gouda, since the one with red pepper and cumin that I usually get wasn't available.

For dinner that night, Richard was away working, so Anita and I slapped a couple of steaks on the BBQ, made a Caesar salad, and I had a baked potato. Yum!
And who else ate well during my stay? Anita's neigbour's llamas, of course! He keeps a herd of sheep and as they graze in the back 40, he has the llamas there to protect them. Llamas love snacks - especially alfalfa and carrots, and Anita always has some on hand. The sheep are shy and don't take well to hand feeding, but the llamas got right in there! In fact, they are known to hang around the back gate waiting to be fed.

And that about sums up the food angle of my trip!

For more about my adventures, you can read this post.

Curtis's Crumbed Chicken Breasts

I made this dish for my review of Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone. As I said in the review, this was a simple and tasty way to prepare chicken, but as I was eating it, I suddenly realized that I could have added some ham to this and had a pretty great Chicken Cordon Bleu. As it was, I was pretty much having a Chicken Cordon Bleu with only half of the cordon bleu part. Hm. Curtis says in the write-up for this recipe, that when he worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant, he'd make this but would add prosciutto and shaved truffle to the filling - a very fancy version of Chicken Cordon Bleu, IMO.

Crumbed Chicken Breasts Filled with Swiss Cheese, p. 156 of Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone, adapted by me

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
two 3" sticks of Swiss cheese
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs


1. Slice a pocket into the chicken breasts and stuff in the cheese. In my case, I got carried away and pretty much sliced my breasts in half because I wasn't paying proper attention, so I had to truss my breasts. This was OK because I got these fancy silicone trussing thingies to try out for free from the Cooking Club of America a couple of years ago before I let my membership last, and I'd never used them before now. Turns out they work great!2. Season the breast with salt & pepper.

3. Put the flour in one shallow bowl. Beat the egg in a second shallow bowl. Put the bread crumbs into a third shallow bowl. Dredge the chicken first in the flour, then cover with egg, then cover in bread crumbs. Repeat with other breast.

4. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until done. (The original recipe has the reader pan-frying the breasts first and then finishing them in the oven, but I skipped that as I thought just baking them would be easier and lower in fat.)
5. Serve & Enjoy. I had mine with some roasted asparagus and left over Nigella pasta -which was like the bottomless pit of pasta, I had so much left!
It was a pretty nice meal, but next time I'm definitely using ham!