Quick handmade pretzels

It turns out it isn't only Germans that have childhood memories surrounding German food. We went to visit our friend Lauren in LA, as a born and bred New Yorker there is one thing she misses here in California: fresh pretzels on every street corner. So, she started baking them herself. Even though New Yorkers slather all sorts of mustard over them, which Germans might find somewhat strange, the love for pretzels is the same. Lauren lives in West Hollywood, just off Melrose Avenue, and shares her lovely sunny apartment with handsome tomcat Grayson. How great to see a German favourite being baked so far from home.

LAUREN, WHAT'S COOKING?

Apart from my friends (and proper Chinese egg rolls), there isn't really much I'm missing from my past New York life over here in LA. You just can't beat the Californian sunshine. One thing I love about New York are the traditional food stands, especially those with fresh German style pretzels and I couldn't really find them so easily here. So, I just started to bake them myself. I perfected my recipe after a lot of trying out and I found it only really works with food grade lye. It's a slightly dangerous ingredient but really essential. If you are handling it carefully, it's super easy and somehow exciting too! And the tasty warm pretzels you get are so worth it!

INGREDIENTS FOR 10 PRETZELS

500g flour (bread flour or type 550 or 405), 2 packs of instant yeast, 1 tsp table salt (10g), 50g soft butter, 250g warm water, rock salt

FOR THE LYE SOLUTION

1,5 litre water, 1 tsp salt (10g), 50g food grade lye (sodium hydroxide) – order online as it's hard to get, but it is the essential part for real pretzels! Also get rubber gloves and goggles or glasses as the lye is highly caustic and causes burns if not handled with care!

HOW TO BAKE THEM

Pour the flour into a heat resistant bowl; add the instant yeast, salt and the warm water then mix and knead with your hands to an even dough until all the flour is integrated. Let rest for 5 minutes. Now break the butter into little pieces and add bit by bit to the dough ball. Make sure to distribute the butter evenly and create a buttery mix. Now return the dough ball to the bowl and cover with a plate or towel and place it on top of a hot radiator or into your oven on 50 C Celsius. Now wait for about 30 minutes and watch your dough expand and DOUBLE in size. In the meantime prepare some baking paper on your baking trays.

Once the dough has fully expanded, start kneading the dough again, then separate it into about 10 even balls (ca. 85g each). Next, shape each ball into a long string of about 50 cm/2 feet. Make sure to leave the middle about as thick as a thumb and the ends as thin as a pencil. The typical pretzel shape has the strands meeting in the middle and twisting around each other. Feel free to experiment with your shapes. You can try forming rolls, sticks or even heart shapes. Put your pretzels or other shapes onto your baking sheet to expand once more, then put into the fridge for about 10 minutes to make them easier to handle in the lye solution.

Prepare the lye with highest caution. Lye is a highly caustic product and also used to clean drains- in small diluted quantities it is safe to use for cooking/baking, but you should wear gloves and protect your eyes. Bring 1,5 litre of water and the salt to the boil in a stainless steel pot or in a glass dish. Do not use any metal spoons but stick to plastic utensils. Take the pot of the boil and carefully bit by bit add your lye. It will bubble and hiss, but if you are careful it is completely safe.

Your pretzels should have hardened slightly in the fridge. Pick up one pretzel at a time either with a wooden or plastic utensil and slide it into the lye solution. Let it swim in there for 30 seconds, pressing it under water from time to time. Do not to leave them in the solution any longer as they will start to tasty soapy. Then place your pretzel onto the prepared baking tray and cover with the rock salt straight away. Continue until all your pretzels have been through the lye bath and let them rest for about 15 minutes on the baking tray once again. If you want an extra sheen you can also brush a little egg yoke on top, but there is no need if you have left them in the lye long enough.

Now heat the oven to about 200 C/ 395 F. Slide your baking tray into the middle of the oven and bake until perfectly brown and smelling deliciously. (about 25 minutes)

Now, enjoy your German treat with some butter or in true New York style with some mustard. GUTEN APPETIT!

YOUR GERMAN LESSON: Schnelle hausgemachte Brezeln

Berlin Strudel Bake Off

Olivia lives in a beautiful old Berlin flat in deepest Neukölln. It's the kind of place a lot of us have set out to find here in Berlin but is harder and harder to come by. Grand wing doors, high ceilings with an abundance of stucco, and old polished floorboards. Her boyfriend Joe's gran's bohemian furniture, the drapes and lots of personal memorabilia give it that magical feel, almost like a place from a past time. Like a happy version of Great Expectations's Miss Havisham's house. Olivia, who moved here from Somerset, wanted to show off her Mum's favourite pie recipe, and challenged us to a  'Berlin Bake-Off'.  We happily accepted, and sent our friend Lilian along to bake her heart out with a glorious strudel recipe.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE STRUDEL Dough for 2 medium strudels: 300g flour (type 405), 130ml water (warm), 1 TBS vinegar, 2 TBS white wine, 5g salt, 50ml vegetable oil. 100G clarified butter for brushing on Filling for 1 strudel/serves 4: 2 leeks, 200g mountain cheese, 200g crème fraiche, vegetable salt, 1 TBS nutmeg. (Add 200g ham for a meaty version)

INGREDIENTS FOR THE PIE 1 pie/serves 4: 2-3 salmon fillets, prawns (ca. 6 per person), 1 leek, 25g butter, 25g plain flour, 200ml milk, ca.50ml white wine to taste, 50g cheddar cheese (light or yellow) or 40g parmesan, 250ml double creme, salt, pepper, 2 sheets ready made puff pastry

LILIAN, WHAT'S BAKING?

For the bake-off I picked a leek and mountain cheese strudel. It's really tasty and and I am even making my own pastry - which scares most people off, but this recipe is completely fool-proof and it's an all-time party favourite.

Start chopping your leeks into really fine slices and put to one side. Then mix your dough, as you will then have to let it rest for at least an hour. Pour all your ingredients into a large bowl and stir with a spoon, kneed for about 5-10 minutes with your hands, which will turn it into a very smooth soft dough. Then form a tight ball, brush with some vegetable oil and put in a warm place coverd by a towel or foil for 1 hour. It's really important to stick to all the ingredients and to brush some oil on the dough, to make sure it won't dry out. In the meantime fill your leeks into a large pot, add the crème fraiche, grate your cheese on top and add your spices. Bring everything to a boil until the liquid starts to separate, pour into a sieve and let cool down. If your mix is to wet your strudel will get soggy on the bottom. After that hour rest, place a warm towel onto your work surface and dust with a little flour. Roll your dough ball out to plate size, brush with a little butter and give it another 5 minutes time to adjust. Then carefully pull your soft dough thinner and thinner, you can drape it over the back of your hands, slowly moving and pulling it apart until it is 'so thin you could read a book through it'. Cut off the thick ends on the sides and make sure your dough is even and in an oblong shape. Keep a few bits of dough for decoration. Brush again with your clarified butter and spoon a few knobs of butter 10 cm in from your right side to create a buttery base for your filling. Now scoop your leek & cheese mix onto it and fold over the remaining 10cm dough. Grab the tea towel on one end with both hands and start flipping the strudel. It will roll itself really tight. Create a little decoration with your dough bits, for example a plait or some hearts,or just leave plain if you prefer. Once again - brush with a little clarified butter. Transfer the strudel onto some silver foil and put into the preheated oven by ca. 200/220 C until golden on top. (Ca. 30 – 40 minutes).

OLIVIA, WHAT'S BAKING? I called my Mum for her famous leek and fish pie. It's an absolute winner and even though I bought my own pastry, it will completely make up for that in taste.

Start with your sauce. Melt your butter in a medium size pot, add your flour and boil for 1 minute. Be careful for it not to turn brown. Add your milk and white wine while constantly stirring with a balloon whisk. You don't want any lumps in your sauce! Keep stirring until it turns nice and smooth. Then add your double creme and your grated cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chop your leek into fine rings, and your salmon into bite sized pieces. Make sure to skin it if necessary. Then start piling your salmon into your medium pie dish, followed by the prawns, your leek and finally cover with your creamy sauce. Then roll out your puff pastry and cover on top with a few little pastry fish as decoration. Preheat your oven to about 200C and bake until crispy and golden brown - that should be after about 40 minutes.

Serve both, strudel and pie while they are still hot with some beers or wine and find out for yourself which one is tastier. After all these beers we just really couldn't make up our mind...

Strudel: 1 - Pie: 1

Bottomless cheese cake

Caidleigh found her way to Berlin all the way from lovely Toronto. She loves her home Kiez of Helmholtz Platz in Prenzlauer Berg. With all its bustling streets, cafés and an abundance of restaurants it sometimes gets very hard to choose where to have dinner at night. Her flat's large windows open onto a calm, leafy backyard which is a real place of calm within the city. On hot summer's nights, with the windows opened wide, the whole flat feels just like one big airy patio filled with all her favourite things.

CAIDLEIGH, WHAT'S COOKING?

With the summer months being full of friends' birthdays, I have literally perfected this German recipe of a bottomless cheese cake. It has no biscuit base, just the quark part (soft white cheese) and is therefore super quick to make. It's still delicious and a really pretty homemade present - perfect with lots of summery berries piled on top of it.

INGREDIENTS 6 eggs, 220g sugar, 1 sachet of vanilla sugar, some lemon peel and a squeeze of a lemon to taste, 2 packs of vanilla pudding powder, 1/2 tsp of freshly ground vanilla, 500g quark (low fat), 500g quark (full fat), a little butter, bread or biscuit crumbs for the sides.  Also: Spring form (24-26cm), baking paper

HOW TO BAKE IT

Start with covering the bottom of your spring form with baking paper and brush the butter onto the sides, sprinkling it with your biscuit crumbs. If this is getting too hard and the crumbs won't stick or your spring form leaks, just cover the sides with baking paper too and forget about the crumbs. Bring your oven to 175 C heat and place your oven tray or grate into the middle of the oven.

Start with your dough: Mix your sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until foamy. Then add your vanilla sugar and the lemon peel and juice. Continue with spooning in your 2 packs of vanilla pudding, which will act as starch and your freshly ground vanilla sticks. Now mix half of your quark in using the mixer on a low setting (1). Mix in the second part of the quark with a big spoon, but don't stir it too much.

That's your dough done!

Pour your mixture into the spring form and make sure the top is even and flat. Place your form onto the middle shelf of your hot oven and let it bake for ca. 60 minutes, depending on your oven. Keep checking on your cake- if the sides or top are getting burnt, cover it with some baking paper. After 60 minutes make the knife test which should come out easily and clean when stuck into the top.

Take your cake from the oven and cut around the sides to loosen it from the spring form. Wait another 10 minutes and open the form.

Voila, your birthday cake is finished! Transfer it onto a cake plate, sprinkle with a few lovely berries or candles and most importantly- refrain from eating it yourself.

YOUR GERMAN LESSON: Schneller Käsekuchen ohne Boden mit Beeren

Cook-off: The best potato salads

Lillian has set up camp in Friedrichshain, close to the lovely Volkspark - for now. In the past she has lived in Paris, Australia, traveled India and even spent a little time in London. Berlin seems to be full of people who are just stopping over or who are finally settling down. Lillian's flat tells her story perfectly. The colour-washed walls are full of exotic mirrors and postcards, every room is embellished with Turkish or Indian textiles and rare finds. The kitchen is a haven of hand-painted pottery, glass jars, spice pots and beautiful stone ware in shades of blue. Spending a day here is almost as good as taking a trip to an exotic market.

LILIAN, WHAT'S COOKING?

Whenever I was invited to a dinner party in any of the places I lived, I would make my grannies potato salad. My friends always loved it, so I started making variations of it.  In South Germany people like their salad warm and with Speck, whereas in North Germany it is made with mayonnaise and apples. So I am making both kinds today, competing against my friend Tomo in the cook-off.

TOMO, WHAT'S COOKING?

In Japan creamy potato salad is a really popular dish too. It's being served in a lot of restaurants in Tokyo. The potatoes are warm and mashed and you should really try to use kewpie (Japanese) mayonnaise and rice wine vinegar as it does taste different.  

1. SOUTH GERMAN POTATO SALAD

INGREDIENTS 600g waxy potatoes, 2 small red onions, 100g of speck, 1 bunch of chives, 4-5 sour gherkins to taste, 6 TSP white wine vinegar, 2 TBS cooking oil, pepper, salt, 125ml meat broth, 2 TBS melted butter

Boil your potatoes in salt water, skin on. Dice your speck, red onions and sour gherkins. Finely chop your chives. Then bring a little oil to the boil and fry your speck and onions until translucent. Take from the hob.

For the dressing take 4 or 5 slices of your potatoes and your meat broth. Whisk it to a smooth sauce. Then add your mustard and vinegar to taste. Pour evenly over your salad and leave to rest. Before eating, heat up your butter in a pan until liquid and drain through a cloth lined sieve. Spread evenly over your salad and sprinkle with your chopped chives.  

2. NORTH GERMAN POTATO SALAD

INGREDIENTS 600g waxy potatoes, 2 medium sized sour apples, 2 white onions, ½ lemon, 4 sour gherkins, half a bunch of radishes, 1 hard-boiled egg, 5 TBS mayonnaise, 1/2 bunch of dill, 3 TBS oil, 2 TBS mustard, 2-3 TSP of sour gherkin juice

Boil your potatoes as before. Peel and slice. Peel your apples and dice. Squeeze your lemon juice over the apple slices to stop them from turning brown. Carefully dice your hard-boiled egg and slice your sour gherkins. Mix everything with your potatoes, trying not to mash the eggs too much. Now whip in your mayonnaise and give it some kick with white pepper and mustard. Instead of vinegar use a few table spoons of the sour gherkin water. It tastes great. Then generously cover with your dill sprigs and a few more radishes. 

3. JAPANESE POTATO SALAD

INGREDIENTS

600g Yukon Gold potatoes or soft boiling potatoes, 2 carrots, 2 eggs, 1 Japanese cucumber (100g) or 1/2 European cucumber, 1/2 white onion (60g), 6 TBS mayonnaise (preferably Kewpie), 3 TBS rice vinegar or lemon juice, salt and black pepper and parsley or wild flowers to taste

 Firstly peel your carrots and boil until soft. Add your eggs to the water and hard-boil. Chop your soft carrots and cucumber into fine slices. Slice your potatoes and briefly fry in a coated pan- without oil. Take off the heat. Peel and squash your eggs with a wooden spoon or rolling pin and mix in with your warm potatoes. Make sure to create a real 'egg potato mash'. Add your mayonnaise, vinegar, pepper and salt and start mixing in the other ingredients in. Before serving sprinkle with parsley or lovely wild herbs and flowers.   

OUR VERDICT: The Japanese and North German salad were both really tasty, which might be due to the naughtiness of the mayonnaise. The South German salad tasted almost a little too buttery and should definitely have a few sour gherkins and maybe some dill as a freshness kick.

North German Potato Salad 1 : 1 Japanese Potato Salad 

White Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

Laura lives close to one of Kreuzberg's loveliest neighbourhoods 'Bergmannkiez'. Her living set-up is pretty different to that of her neighbours though. Laura (who has moved here from London) and 3 of her friends have created their lives around 'Boys Club', a colourful community space open for music, theatre and art in any shape or form taking place right in their living room (http://boysclub52.tumblr.com/). I came across their lovely space while taking a Finnish cooking course at Trade school, an international exchange community that Boys Club is part of (http://tradeschool.coop/). Having moved into this space a year ago with almost no belongings, it is now a creative haven full of fun quirks, market finds, DIY creations and donations from neighbours and friends.

LAURA, WHAT'S COOKING?

I live with 2 Italians, which means I have literally stopped cooking for others. Anything they make just tastes amazing and feeds our big group easily. I do like cooking for myself on my days off though and try to learn more about the German kitchen, traditions and the German language for that matter. Germans get really crazy about white asparagus as it is just available for a limited time in the first warm days of spring in April and May. This made me curious and I started to cook it for myself and my friends. It is sweeter and softer than green asparagus and tastes great with anything buttery. Very different to the horrible tinned version we get in the UK.

INGREDIENTS

600g white asparagus, 300g green asparagus, 700g potatoes, a slice of lemon, 150g cooked ham, half a box of cress, pinch of sugar

holllandaise sauce: 3 eggs, 200g butter, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, squeeze of lemon

1 meter cotton string

HOW TO COOK IT

Start with washing both types of asparagus. Pat them dry carefully. Then cut off the last 3 cm of your white asparagus, as these are coarse and dry. The white asparagus grows under the soil, so it also needs to be peeled. Prop the asparagus up in your hand and start skinning it from just underneath the head right down to the bottom. Get rid of any brown spots. If the ends of your green asparagus are a little hard too, skin the bottom 5cm. Now tie them up in pretty little bundles. This is also a good way of portioning your veg.

Take your potatoes and skin them, getting rid of any dark spots.

Bring two pots of water to the boil - one for your potatoes and a large one for your asparagus. Add one slice of lemon, a pinch of sugar and your bundles of asparagus to the boiling water. It's useful to set a timer. Your green asparagus will take about 5-8 minutes to boil and your white asparagus 10-12 minutes.

Next prepare your sauce: Bring a large pot of water to the boil and separately melt 200g of butter (yes, it's a huge chunk!). Set the melted butter aside to rest. 

Now start on your sauce: Separate 3 egg yolks from their whites into a large bowl. Whisk vigourously. Add a squeeze of lemon, but not too much. Add some salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Keep whisking. Take your pot of boiling water from the oven and place underneath your whisking bowl. The heat will thicken your sauce. Be careful not to heat your egg mixture too much otherwise it will scramble! Slowly mix in your melted butter drop by drop and keep whisking. You will soon see your sauce get thicker and fluffier. Continue for another few minutes and season to taste with your pepper, salt and cayenne pepper. All your other ingredients should now be ready too. (Sadly your sauce only holds for about 10 minutes, so always prepare it last.)

Check on your potatoes and asparagus. Poke a sharp knive into the end bits to see if these are soft. If they are, carefully take out your asparagus bundles, untie and arrange on a platter. Take your ham and cress from the fridge and arrange nicely on plates. Scoop your potatoes into a bowl.Transfer your hollandaise sauce to a jug.

Now enjoy your beautiful spring time lunch- flowery asparagus, sweet salty ham and a beautiful, (outrageously) buttery sauce.

A piece of German food craziness - (that's really as crazy as it gets over here.)

YOUR GERMAN LESSON: Weisser Spargel mit Sauce hollandaise und gekochtem Schinken.

Bread & pretzel dumpling w/ mushroom goulash

Friederike lives in a lovely part of Neukölln with her boyfriend and doggy Leika. For most of her time here in Berlin she has lived around Weser Strasse, which houses some of the city's nicest bars and cafés. But as the Spree and Treptower Park are also just around the corner, she now swaps these party nights out for days of long walks with Leika, cooking, treasure hunting for kitchen untensils and - soon - harvesting home grown veg in her brand new alotment. A girl after my own heart.

RIEKE, WHAT'S COOKING? I have recently started cooking all sorts of Knödel (dumplings). It must be the Bavarian in me. Whenever I have some bread or rolls left over, I rip them up into little crumbs and store them in a big lidded soup jar. So I can whip up bread dumplings any time I want. I especially love cooking this mushroom goulash. Mushrooms are just so natural, they really smell of wood and moss. And with the tomato sauce they are a great fruity spring dish.

INGREDIENTS Goulash: 600 g fresh mixed mushrooms, 2 onions, 2 garlic cloves, 1 bunch of parsley, 1 TBS olive oil, sea salt, 1 tsp tomato paste, 1 TBS smoked paprika powder, pepper, 250 ml vegetable stock,100 g crème fraiche, lemon juice, 250ml white wine, small tin of chopped tomatoes

For 6 large Knödel: 250g stale pretzels or bread rolls, 2 onions, parsley, a little butter, 250 ml milk, 2-3 eggs, salt and pepper

HOW TO COOK IT Wash your herbs and mushrooms thoroughly and pat dry. Finely chop your herbs. Slice the stems of your mushrooms and half or quarter the heads. Chop the onions and garlic into small cubes. Put enough onions and parsley aside for your Knödel. Heat some olive oil in a pan and fry your onion and garlic. Add your chopped mushrooms and salt to taste. Cover everything with a lid and let simmer for 5 minutes. Then add the can of chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper, paprika powder and tomato paste to taste. Now add your vegetable broth and cook for another 15 minutes on a medium heat. Put your lid back on and set a timer. In the meantime, prepare your dumplings: Take your onion and parsley from the side and fry in a little butter. Warm up your milk. Break your old bread and pretzels into small crumbs. If you have too many, you can easily keep them in a jar for your next Knödel making session, so they are always on hand. Calculate about 50g for one Knödel. Pour the milk over your crumbs, mash together and leave to rest for some minutes. Then mix your crumbs with 2 eggs, milk, chopped onions and parsley until they turns into a doughy mix. Then form some generous balls with wet hands. Almost tennis ball size. You can now either boil your Knödel in a little salt water on a low heat, but Rieke has tred this many times and found that steaming them for about 20 minutes works just much better. They get cooked evenly and keep their shape. See what suits you best. Don't forget to check on your goulash. It should now have finished cooking and can be kept warm until your Knödel are ready. Serve the goulash on a deep plate, spooning a generous helping on first. Add some crème fraiche onto each plate, either on the side or mixed in. Take one of your majestic steaming Knödels and drop it in the middle. Sprinkling it with a bit more chives and parsley. Pour a nice big beer and…Enjoy!

Your German lesson: Semmel- und Brezn-Knödel mit fruchtigem Pilzgulasch

Potato noodles with apple-sauerkraut

Laura and Ben's flat is a warm haven of quirkiness. Handmade paper robots, giant world-maps, old tax office memorabilia, guinea pig salt shakers - they've got it all. It's a perfect reflection of their dry humour and couldn't be located on a more history riddled street - at the very far end of Kopenhagener Strasse, a street that was divided into East and West for so many years. All that almost seems forgotten, with so many nice parks, cafés and bars surrounding the area. Only a few charmingly run-down houses still remind of past times.

LAURA & BEN, WHAT'S COOKING?

We are making potato noodles. And a lovely sauerkraut with apples. We do eat meat but it's good to cook a few vegetarian dishes a week. Most people might just eat sauerkraut as a partner to sausages, but it's actually super tasty with buttery potato noodles too! We always make far too many noodles, so we can keep them for the next day to eat with sugar and cinnamon or apple compote. It's a typical German schoolkids' dish - we love it!

INGREDIENTS:

600g waxy potatoes, 50g mixed fresh herbs (parsley, chives, dill), 2 egg yolks, 230g flour, a pinch of nutmeg, 1-2 shallots, 4 TBS butter, 350ml white wine, 1 glass of sauerkraut (about 750g), 2 bay leaves, 1 TBS juniper berries, 1 tsp of vegetable stock, 2 apples (Braeburn are good), salt, pepper and sugar

HOW TO COOK IT:

Start with washing your fresh herbs, dry them and chop really fine. While at it, chop your shallots too (but don't mix them together). Boil your potatoes IN THE SKIN until soft; dry off and peel. You can also use potatoes from the previous day. It is important to use waxy/starchy potatoes.

If you own a potato press, now is a great time to use it. Otherwise take a rolling pin and mash your potatoes really fine and press through a sieve. Quickly mix in your egg yolk and herbs. Add your flour bit by bit, always carefully mixing it in. The dough should be really smooth and hold together but not stick to your fingers, so experiment with a little more flour if it's too loose. Season with nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste. Mix the dough really well and form into a log. Now start cutting off finger-thick slices (These noodles are also called Fingernudeln). Roll these slices into nice round cigar shapes. Sometimes you will even manage to get 2 cigars out of one slice. Don't make them to thick or large. Bring some water to the boil and turn down to slightly simmer. Now add the noodles one by one to the water, just so that the bottom of the pot is covered. Let them simmer briefly until they swim up to the top and take out straight away. Don't overcook them! Leave on the side to dry off.

Now skin and chop your apples into 1cm cubes. Take your chopped shallots and heat in a pot with a little butter until translucent. Add your white wine and let it simmer a little. Then add the sauerkraut, bay leaves, juniper berries, sugar, pepper and vegetable broth to taste. Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes or until nice and tender and until all the moisture has disappeared. Finally, add your apple cubes and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Take a large pan and melt 2 tablespoons of butter, add your potato noodles and fry until golden. Add your sauerkraut (no juices please) to the pan and mix everything together until nice and crispy and golden.

Serve a generous helping onto each plate, sprinkle some of the herbs and a few chopped hazelnuts if on hand... and Enjoy!

YOUR GERMAN LESSON: 'Kräuter - Schupfnudeln mit Apfel-Sauerkraut'

Creamy spring onion soup with speck bread

Chris lives in a beautiful old house near Zionskirchplatz in Mitte. The staircase and doors are gigantic and still exude the charm of old gone days. The flat itself is a little quirky jewel: All floors, some walls and even ceilings are covered in wood. Rumour has it that the flat was once owned by a carpenter who just went wild on the cladding. The kitchen's raw concrete walls stand in a nice contrast and with it's armchairs and record player it also functions as the flat shares' stylish living room.

CHRIS, WHAT'S COOKING?

I have to admit, I mostly eat out, as Berlin has so many great and cheap restaurants. I am a huge fan of hummus, so if I have time and friends over to visit, I sometimes make my own bread, like this speck bread. It's really nice warm and with hummus or as a whole dish with this springonion soup. They go really well together, as the soup is packed with herbs and tastes really light and the breads salty speck are just perfect for each other.  

INGREDIENTS

Soup:5 spring onions, ½ bunch of parsley, 1 box of cress, 1 TSP butter, 1-2 TSP vegetable stock, 2 garlic cloves, 2 slices of brown bread, 1 TBS potato flour/light thickener, 150 g whipping cream, salt, pepper, oil

Speck bread: 100g speck, 2 white onions, 250g flour, 20g yeast, 1 egg, 2 egg yokes, 50g butter, ½ tbs sugar, 130ml milk, salt, pepper, oil

HOW TO COOK IT:

Start with your speck bread as this will take some time to bake. Carefully pour your flour into a bowl - slowly siffing it in. Mix your yeast with some sugar and a sip of the milk (slightly warm) until dissolved. Press a little dent into the flour and pour your mix inside. Then crack your egg, flake your butter and spread around the flour rim. Season with the salt and cover , leaving it to rest for 15 minutes.

After the resting time, start kneading your dough with your hands. Start from the middle out, until nice and smooth. Leave to rest for another 30 minutes.

In the meantime, dice your speck and onions and fry in a little oil until translutioned. Take off the heat.

Knead your dough once again. Spread a little flower on your work surface and split your dough into 8 even balls. Flatten your balls to discs with about 1 inch thickness. Spread your speck onion mix evenly on your little flat breads and slightly press into the dough. Stick your bread onto a baking paper clad tray in your oven (for about 10 minutes) while your oven is heating up to 200 C..

In the meantime prepare your soup: Finelly chop your spring onions into rings, chop ¾ of your parsley and your garlic gloves.

Heat up a little oil in a pot and briefly glaze your spring onions. Adding your parsley. After a few minutes add ¾ litres of water and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes.

While your soup is boiling, go back to your bread: separate the yoke of 2 eggs and slightly brush each bread crust with it. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on them and push the tray back into the oven for another 30 minutes or until your breads are baked golden. 

Now rip your brown bread slices into little cubes and fry with a litlle butter and the chopped garlic in a pan until cripspy. Separate from the garlic and put aside. Wash your cress and cut from the box, mix with your whipping cream, add to the soup and stirr whith an electric whisk until smooth. Briefly bring to the boil again, season to taste with salt and pepper and experiment with your thickener if you wish.

Take your crispy breads from the oven once baked, spoon your steaming soup into bowls, sprinkle with the left-over parsley and your garlicy crispy croutons.

Now, enjoy, dunk and slurp- this will without a doubt become one of your new favourites!

YOUR GERMAN LESSON: Cremige Kresse-Frühlingszwiebelsuppe mit heißen Zwiebel-Speckbrötchen

Chicken and egg terrine with remoulade

Mark moved from London to Berlin in the summer. Loving the relaxed atmosphere and the space it looks like he will stay here for the foreseeable future. He lives in a huge 2 bedroom flat with his German girlfriend in the Western part of Prenzlauer Berg close to Mauerpark. With their regular visits to the bear pit karaoke and Sunday’s food and fleamarket they have enmassed a vast number of nick-nacks and vintage furniture.

The kitchen was painted green and was unfurnished apart from a metal sink and an old gas oven. The wooden cabinet was found in a vintage furniture store in Kreuzberg, the maps and ladder are from flea markets and the table has already moved to 4 different homes with them. They both travel a lot and bring souvenir cups, bowls and food packaging back from all their journeys.

MARK, WHAT'S COOKING??

I am making a chicken and egg terrine, as I love to cook a proper English roast chicken on Sundays I will often have some chicken legs left on a Monday.. Aspic is a tasty way of recycling my left-over broth and chicken. I learnt this recipe from my girlfriend - Germans just LOVE to recycle and it's a nice dinner snack with crispy bread and some homemade remoulade.

INGREDIENTS

2  chicken legs (à 250g), 400ml clear broth, 2 onions, 1-2 hardboiled eggs, 1 celleriac, 1-2 carrots, flat parsley sprigs, dill sprigs, 1 leek, pickled gerkhins, yellow mustard seeds, black pepper, 1 lemon, bayleaves, salt, Dijon style mustard, sugar, 15g gelatine, red wine vinegar, vegetable oil, 4 TBS of mayonaise, 2 TBS créme fraiche, a few haselnuts, 8 slices of brown bread

HOW TO COOK IT

Start with dicing all your vegetables: Your carrots, 10g of your celeriac, 1 sour gerkhin, the leek and chop the parsley. Finely chop your onions. add them into a separate bowl, mix in 1 table spoon of the mustard and 2 table spoons of the vinegar. Put aside to marinate.

Warm up your broth adding your bayleaves and pepper corns. Bring to the boil and add our chopped carrots, celeriac and leek and your chicken legs. Cook everything until the vegatables are soft and the legs cooked through.  

In the meantime, soak your gelatine leaves in a bowl with cold water until soft. Then take the broth off the fire and drain. But be careful not to pour away the broth as this is your gold dust for a nice aspic.

Add the gelatine leaves to the drained broth and disolve while gently stirring back on the hob at medium heat. Season the broth VERY well with salt, black pepper, sugar and lots of red wine vinegar and add some lemon peel. It will give your aspic the typical sour taste. Leave to cool off a little.

Prepare your medium pie dish or terrine (ca.500ml): Brush the sides with oil. Skin your chicken legs and chop the meat into small pieces. Layer all your chopped boiled ingredients, mustard seeds, fresh parsley and dill  and marinated onions neatly in the dish. Don't forget your pickled gerkhins. And hide your whole hardboiled egg(s) in the middle as heart of your terrine. Now pour the warm gelatine broth over your layers, slightly tapping your dish unto the table to make sure everything is covered and you have a smooth upper layer. Carefully transfer into your fridge to rest. Sleep on it.

The next day grate the rest of your celeriac into thin sticks, mix with the mayonaise, mustard, créme fraiche and a few parsley leaves. Season to taste with some spritz of your lemon, sugar, salt and pepper. Then comes the big moment: take the pie dish from your fridge. Cover it with a plate and turn over. Carefully patting the bottom of the dish for the terrine to gently slip out.

While the aspic is adjusting to room temperature - toast your bread, slice a few hazelnuts and mix a light vinaigrette with oil and red vine vinegar.

Ideally you will cut the aspic with an electric (or very sharp) knive into 1.5 cm thick slices.

Arrange with fresh some onion rings, drizzle with a vinegrette, add the parsley and some halved pickled gerkhins. Now enjoy!

Your German lesson: Sülze vom Huhn und Ei mit Sellerie-Remoulade, Haselnüssen und dunklem Brot

Potato pancakes with apple pear compote

Julius and his wife Tanya live in a stunning old fashioned flat near Oberbaumbrücke in Kreuzberg. Through their living room window you can watch the Spree pass by like a gentle giant. The couple travels a lot and seem to find all the best treasures wherever they go. Their flat is full of all these things you might have looked out for on markets but could never find. Should they ever decide to quit their fashion jobs, they surely could open Berlin's most magical antique shop.

JULIUS, WHAT'S COOKING?

I never really have time to plan any meals and just throw together what we have in the kitchen. As fashion stylist I can get a call in the morning and I am off preparing and shooting for the next few days. I love the Turkish market at Maybachufer though and try to go down there on Tuesdays or Fridays. They always sell great quality seasonal fruit and vegetables. This dish is one of my favourite lunch snacks as we always tend to have a few pears or apples, potatoes and ham in the house. The fresh creamed horseradish is today's little treat to be honest.

INGREDIENTS

Potato pancakes:750g potatoes, 1-2 eggs, 1-2 onions, 1TSP flour, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cooking oil

Apple-pear mouse: 2 apples, 2 pears, 2 ginger slices, 1 cinnamon stick, large piece of orange peel, 40g sugar, 80ml white wine, 5 cloves

Creamed horseradish: 250g cream or crème fraiche, 1 stick of fresh horseradish, 2 TSP ready-made horseradish, salt, squeeze of a lemon

  HOW TO COOK IT

Start with your apple-pear mouse. Chop the apples and pears into 1 cm small cubes and give into a pot, together with your sugar. Let the fruits caramelise over a medium heat. Add your white wine and cloves. Tie all your other spices into a little bundle and cover in the pot. Now cover your pot and let boil for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, wash and skin your fresh horseradish, grate into fine flakes. Whip your cream and season with a little salt and lemon, mixing in the fresh and the ready made horseradish to taste.

Check your apple-pear mouse and take out your spice bundle. Crush the soft bits with a wooden spoon until mushy. Put aside to cool off.

Skin your potatoes, and grate into fine strips, wrap into a kitchen towel and make sure to press out all the water. This is really important and will help your pancakes hold together. Mix in your finely chopped or grated onion, 1 or 2 egg yolks, the flour , a little bit of salt and pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Cover your pan generously with oil and heat up. Now add spoonfuls of potatoes to your pan and flatten to 10cm pancakes. Fry until golden brown and slightly crispy. Careful flipp them over from time to time. Transfer them onto some kitchen towel to drain off some oil. Crack open a few nuts and a nice bottle of white wine.

Serve the hot crispy pancakes with 3 or 4 slices of your ham, some spoonfuls of your creamy horseradish, your walnut halves and a nice helping of your apple and pear compote.

Enjoy and Guten Appetit!

Your German lesson: 'Kartoffelpuffer mit geräuchertem Schinken, Apfel-Birnen Kompott, Walnüssen und frischem Sahnemerrettich'

Curly kale with pork loin and duo of sausages

Dennis lives in a super sleek bachelor pad in Friedrichshain. He moved here with his Eames chairs and his beloved SMEG fridge. It certainly is the shiny red heart of his kitchen. Dennis loves getting his fruit & vegetables at nearby Boxhagener Platz market on Saturdays. But the truth is, he returns from the clubs so late most weekends, that the last thing on his mind are apples and tomatoes.

DENNIS WHAT'S COOKING?

I am cooking the perfect winter dish. It's my Mum's recipe and I have always loved it. I had to change it a bit as I can't get the right sausages here in Berlin. In Lüneburg/Hamburg we use Bregenwurst. But a coarse smoked sausage is just as good. Grünkohl (curly kale) is cooked in kitchens and restaurants across Germany in Autumn/Winter. It's only really available after the first frost, which is the perfect time for me and my friends to meet at mine for a bit of PlayStation, a few beers and a home-cooked dinner. If I make it to the market in time, that is.

INGREDIENTS

1 kg curly kale, 500g potatoes, 1 - 2 large onions, 3 large TSPs of ghee, 500g smoked pork loin, 2 smoked air dried sausages, 2 fat pork sausages, a 2cm thick piece of streaky bacon or Speck (for seasoning), salt, pepper, a little sugar

Thoroughly wash your kale and cut of all the leaves from the stem and stalks, so you are just left with the soft parts. Chop your onions. Heat the ghee in a large (5-6 litre)pot. Add your cut kale and onions. Cook for a few minutes until the kale has softened and the onions are getting transparent. Be careful not to burn it. Add half a cup of water. Then add the pork loin and the uncut bacon, put the lid on your pot and cook for 1,5 hours on a medium heat.

At half time, add another half cup of water, a little salt, pepper and a little sugar to taste. After about an hour add the sausages, covering them with some of the kale. Put your lid back onto the pot and cook for the last 20 minutes. In the meantime, skin your potatoes and boil in a little salt water until tender. Put some beers to chill. 

Now that your whole kitchen is filled with the homely (maybe not most attractive) smell of kale, start to plate up your potatoes, one sausage of each kind and a piece of loin together with your now buttery soft kale.

Get your beers and enjoy!

Your German lesson: 'Grünkohl mit Kassler, zweierlei Würsten und gekochten Kartoffeln'

Königsberger meatballs in creamy caper sauce

Ivonne has lived in her cozy flat for 5 years. It's bang in he middle of in Friedrichs hain - the party central of Berlin Her balcony offers a great view onto Warschauer Brücke and the Spree. The best thing about livng here is that you can have a late night out in Kreuzberg and just walk back home for a post-party cooking session from her handwritten recipe book. Friends always seem to pass through the area and just pop in for a chat. That is if she isn't tavelling for work, which happens often. In that case friends send her postcards from their travels and trips abroad, which she thankfully plasters all over her walls.

IVONNE, WHAT'S COOKING?

I am cooking one of my brother's favourite dishes. We used to be served it in kindergarten, which now actually buffles me as it has such a sofisticated and grown-up taste with the sardine paste and the caper sauce. My brother loved it from a really young age on, and every time I cook it now it reminds me of him.

INGREDIENTS

Meat balls: 250 g beef mince, 250 g pork mince, 1 onion, 1 old bread roll or 2 TBS bread crumbs, 2 eggs, pepper, 1-2 TSP sardine paste, 2 tsp mustard

Broth: 2 bay leaves,5 whole all-spice and whole black pepper corns, 5 whole black pepper corns, 700ml clear broth (soup cube), salt, 2 onions,For he sauce:3 TSP butter, 2 TSP flour, 1 TSP lemon juice Drained broth (meatball broth), 1/8 litre cream ,1oog capers including caper water, 1 egg yolk, salt and pepper, some parsley as garnish

Sides: 2 raw beetroots, oil & vinegar, 1kg potatoes

HOW TO COOK IT:

Mix the mince meat, the bread crumbs and 1 chopped onion in a bowl. Add two eggs, pepper and salt and knead into an even dough. Then add your sardine paste and capers to taste. Be careful not to make it too salty. Form the meat dough into 8 evenly sized meatballs and put aside.

TIP: Bring your peeled potatoes and beetroots to the boil to make sure they are cooked in time to eat.

Now add 1 finely chopped onion and your herbs to the broth and bring to the boil. Season the broth with a little salt to taste, then add your meatballs to your broth and cook for 20 minutes.

Then scoop out your meat balls and keep covered and warm. Now drain all the onions and herbs from the broth, but don't pour away! It's the gold dust for your caper sauce! Heat up your butter in a separate pot, sief in your flour and brown. Now slowly pour this mix in your drained broth while stirring with a whisk. Add the rest of your capers WITH the caper water from the glass, a sprits of lemon as well as one egg yolk and the cream and if needed a bit more flower. You should aim for a creamy not too watery consistency. Taste once again with some salt and pepper, if you want even with some sugar. If you are happy with your sauce, add your meatballs back in to warm up.

Drain your potatoes and scoop onto the plate. Serve two meatballs onto each plate and pour enough sauce to cover the bottom of the plate. Cut the cooked beetroots in slices with a little oil and vinegar. Decorate with a little parsley and caper apples. Now relax and enjoy with a tasty 'Berliner Weisse'- Pilsner beer mixed with raspberry sirup.

Enjoy your Klopse- you deserve them!

Your German lesson: 'Königsberger Klopse in Kapern Sauce mit roter Beete und gekochten Kartoffeln'

Ginger bread with almonds and raisins

Ebba, Alma (10) und Ada (5) live in a lovely, airy and partly open plan flat in Prenzlauer Berg. They share this great home with their brother and Dad, who is an architect and has his office just across the railway. Him and his team have designed the whole building, so the family live in his own creation. Ebba works as a photographer and has her studio on the ground floor. They just love their area around Kopenhagener Strasse and as Berliners never seem to leave their Kiez (neighbourhood), this family has perfectly build their whole life around their flat and their kitchen table.

Ebba, what's cooking?

This is a really traditional German ginger bread recipe. The girls love it as it has some mysterious old fashioned ingredients like salt of hartshorn and pearl ash, which sounds like it is straight out of a Brother's Grimm fairytale. All these stories about ginger bread houses suddenly really make sence. And it tastes perfectly like Christmas should taste - Old fashioned.

INGREDIENTS

350 g honey, 100g brown sugar, 100g butter, 1 egg, 500g flour, 1pack vanilla sugar, 1 TSP each of these spices: Ground cinnamon, ground gloves, ground cardamom, nutmeg, ground black pepper, allspice, ground coriander, 2 TSPs chocolate powder, 1 TBS of pearlash (potassium carbonate) as baking agent, 1 TBS of salt of hartshorn (ammonium carbonate) as leaving agent, 1 TBS water, peel of an unwaxed lemon, 1 TSP of fresh ginger, decoration: 2 egg yolks, 

topping:500 g whole peeled almonds, 300 g sultanas,

to store:1 apple sliced

 HOW TO BAKE IT:

Weigh up all your ingredients. Add the honey, sugar and butter into a pot and heat everything up while constantly stirring. Once everything has melted into a smooth golden gloop, take off the heat and let cool down slightly.

Then add your egg, the lemon peel, chocolate powder and all your other spices. Mix your pearlash and salt of hartshorn with your spoon full of water until dissolved. Add this to your honey spice mix. Now add the flower and knead everything to a smooth dough.

IDEALLY you should now cover the dough with a little cling film and let it rest on the window sill over night. (If you are very impatient, just wait an hour at least.)

The next morning knead your dough again, ideally with a kitchen aid. Then dust your kitchen table with some flour and roll out your dough really thin. (about 1- 2mm)

Now the fun part begins. Cut out your cookies in any shapes and forms using cookie cutters or maybe you even attempt to build a whole gingerbread house with a handmade paper pattern.

Carefully transfer your cut outs onto a baking tray covered with baking/parchment paper, coat all cookies with the egg yolks, using a large brush. Decorate with your almonds and raisins as you like. Now slide the tray into the oven on the 180 C mark. Keep checking on them and remove from the oven after 15-20 minutes.

Leave the cookies to cool and carefully transfer to a biscuit tin with some apple slices (to keep them moist).

After 3-5 days resting time your ginger bread will be at it's best !

Enjoy - and remember to share!

Your German lesson: 'Traditioneller Lebkuchen mit Nüssen und Rosinen'