Another Unforgettable Lunch in France

Restaurant Au Wasigenstein 

Candlelight and Roses 

Alsatian Beer is Superb

A Touch of Pinot Noir

Avocado Salad done right! 

Wild Boar

Red Cabbage

Spätzle

Our Wonderful Waitress

A Toast to an Unforgettable Lunch with friends!

My job on a cloudy, slightly brisk spring day, was to wind our way from quaint German towns, into nearby France, and through the blooming Alsatian countryside to the tiny village of Wengelsbach, nestled in a deep, almost hidden valley.  Why would I want to, besides idle wanderlust?  Food of course, but not just any food.  The driving force behind the driving were the renowned lunches, impeccably served in the demure but illustrious Restaurant Au Wasigenstein.

Wengelsbach?  Wasigenstein?  German names in France?  Don’t mention it out loud, Alsace has changed hands so many times over the last 150 years, it’s hard to tell who’s right handed and who’s left handed.  It’s definitely France now, but evidently the locals are taking no chances.  Speak German or French to them and they don’t miss a beat.  Guess it’s become too much of an effort to change the village names every few years.

With the dropping of borders and caught in the economic embrace of a common currency, nobody seems to mind the intertwining of cultures and cuisines and no one is impolite enough to dwell on the memories of cannon fire that echoed through the valley not all that long ago.

Wengelbach is truly tiny.  There are probably no more than two dozen homes, the restaurant, and a small jewel of a chapel.  My first thought was, why not live here?,.. followed shortly by the second thought:  why would anyone want to live here?  There’s no gas station, no food mart, one restaurant, and a place to pray.  Welcome to the simple life.  No kids or schools either, which leads me to see Wengelsbach, even with its pastoral beauty, as a dying town.

Still, it’s an interesting place.  I passed a house with a flag hanging from the porch.  As I stopped to study it, a man came out, with a big smile on his face.  “Know what flag that is?” he asked in English.  My first thought was Italian.  He shook his head no.  “Right colors, but there’s a lion in the middle and the stripes are horizontal.”

Reaching into memories of my misspent youth, I blurted out, “Iranian.”

His smile broadened.  “But it’s before the current regime.”   I was about to thank him and walk on, but this man wanted to talk and he’d found a listener.  “I do not like the current regime, but I will be quite angry if the United States or Israel attack Iran.”  Was it a challenge?  I had no idea, but there are some things I don’t discuss with strangers.  Sex, and debauchery yes.  Politics, no.

I side-stepped.  “I was in Teheran years ago.”

“Did you like the food?”  he asked.  Ah, fruitless conflict avoided.   Huge sighs.  Smiles all around.  Hand shakes.  Pats on the back.  On to lunch.

The  Restaurant Au Wasigenstein deserves it’s reputation.  I knew it as soon as we walked through the door and smelled the wood fire and saw the lavish custard and berry tarts on the bar.  The interior resembled a pine paneled hunting lodge, except for the starched white tablecloths, gleaming glasses, and polished cutlery.  Roses sat invitingly on each table; sliver candlesticks offered a warm glow.  We were shown to our seats and within minutes, every table around us filled up.

Our black and white attired waitress smiled and kept smiling as she handed us extensive menus and warmed our palates with descriptions of the menus of the day.  If anything, she understated the dishes.  Avocado with a creamy homemade mayonnaise and shrimp, turned out to be a full salad plate, half a avocado on a bed of mixed greens, with boiled egg slices, lightly steamed vegetables, and mounds of baby shrimp.  The greens were spiked with lovely vinaigrette.  A basket of crusty French bread on the side, made this a meal in itself, but there was more to come.

Roasted wild boar in a rich, dark wine sauce, grilled vegetables, and tiny cups of both fresh apple sauce and wild berry sauce completed the feast and made the hour and a half drive through the twisting mountain roads worth every minute and every bite.

We ate.  We drank Alsatian beer and Alsatian pinot noir.  “Ready for dessert, or coffee,” the waitress asked.  I closed my eyes, clinched my jaws, my knuckles turned white as I gripped the chair and forced myself not to shout, “Hell yes!”

“No,” said the couple we were with.  “We’re going to Wissembourg.”  Ah, but that’s another story, filled with rich coffee, richer desserts, and another picturesque Alsatian town worth mentioning.  I will mention it, later.

Restaurant Au Wasigenstein

Tel:  0388095054

www.wasigenstein-wengelsbach.com

Closed Monday and Tuesday

Going Green, Red, and Garlicky

        Stop!  Don’t put that goopy, mass produced salad dressing in your cart!  Put the damn bottle back on the shelf.  Have you read the ingredients?  Let’s make some good stuff instead.  It’s so simple you’ll never, ever buy salad dressing again.  All you need is a blender, some basic ingredients and three minutes.  Don’t have a blender?  Don’t lie to me, you margarita swilling swine!

        By the way, did you know that margarita means daisy in Spanish?  Hey, shape up!  You ought to know what you’re drinking. 

        Back to the salad dressing.  Here’s the basic recipe:  1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1 clove garlic, salt, and pepper to taste.  Put it in a blender.  Presto!  You’ve made a wonderful vinaigrette, and it’s only the beginning of your salad dressings adventures.  By the way, I always use Spanish olive oil.  To my tongue, the flavor is more intense.  Note the photo and the old sake bottles I use for my olive oil and kosher salt.  Nicely shaped bottles never go to waste in my house.  By the way, why do they call it kosher salt?  How can salt be anything else?  Kosher salt is the salt they use to cure kosher meat.  Mystery solved.

        Now back to the salad dressing for some not so basics.  For a change of pace, try using flavored vinegars.  I often use seasoned rice vinegar, shown in the photo, also strawberry vinegar, rosemary vinegar, and other vinegars that intrigue my taste buds. I keep strawberry and rose vinegars on my shelf.

        For tonight’s salad, I’m topping fresh baby greens with chopped strawberries and some toasted walnuts.  Hint:  how to toast walnuts.  Put them in a pan over moderate heat – no butter, no oil.  Let them toast, tossing occasionally until you smell the sweet, nutty aroma.

        For tonight’s salad dressing, I’m following the basic recipe, but using 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar, which is slightly sweet, 1/4 cup champagne vinegar, and also tossing some fresh strawberries into the blender, first removing the tops and any white parts.  How many strawberries?  I started with four large ones, but I needed more berry flavor, so I added a couple more. 

        Want your dressing a little sweeter?  Instead of half and half seasoned rice vinegar and regular, use a full 1/2 cup of seasoned rice vinegar, or add sugar or honey.  Want it creamier?  Add an egg yolk.  Don’t worry about an uncooked yolk.  Just make sure you keep any leftover dressing in the refrig.

        One day soon, we’ll talk about how to make your own flavored vinegars, but right now let’s enjoy the baby greens, walnut, and strawberry salad, with the strawberry vinaigrette