Soups and Stews
Homemade Asparagus Soup
Herb Soup
Semolina Dumpling Soup
Homemade Potato Soup
Pichelsteiner Stew
Game Stew
Old German Potato Pot
Homemade Asparagus Soup
Ingredients:
1 lbs. white asparagus
3 cups of salted water
1 teaspoon of sugar
4 1/2 oz. Butter
1 1/2 oz. flour
1 tablespoon of chicken stock (powder)
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup of cream
1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
parsley (chopped)
Peel the asparagus and cut into junks, appr. 1 - 1.5 inches long. Bring salted water to a boil and add the sugar. Now add the asparagus junks.
Boil for appr. 15 minutes.
Strain the water from the asparagus but don't waste the water. Catch it in a separate saucepan or something similar.
Heat 1.5 oz of the butter, add the flour when the butter has melted, while stirring continuously.
Now slowly add the asparagus water that you caught in a separate saucepan.
Then add the chicken stock and let simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the cooked asparagus junks.
Whisk the cream and egg yolk and lemon juice together and pour it in, a little at a time. Make sure you stir thoroughly while doing so and very important, DON'T LET IT BOIL!
Melt the rest of the butter in the soup and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley when serving.
Herb Soup (Kräutlsuppe)
Ingredients:
5 oz. chervil
5 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of flour
4 cups vegetable broth
2 bread rolls (should be 1 or 2 days old)
1/2 cup cream
salt
pepper
Wash the chervil and drain well. Heat 3 tablespoons of Butter in a saucepan at medium heat.
Heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add the 3 tablespoons of flour when the butter has melted, while stirring continuously.
Now add the vegetable broth slowly. Continue stirring for about 2 minutes and let simmer for appr. 10 minutes.
Dice the bread rolls and heat the rest of the butter at medium heat until it is melted. Add the bread roll dices and fry them until they have a golden brown colour.
Chop the chervil, add it to the soup, followed by the cream.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and let simmer for another 10 - 15
minutes. Mix thoroughly with an electric whisk.
Place the roasted bread roll-dices into a bowl or deep plate and pour the soup over them.
If you like you can decorate with some daisy blossoms, which are edible. Make sure you wash them first.
Variation:
Impress your family and friends by collecting some edible, wild herbs and use them in this soup instead of, or with the chervil.
In Bavaria, where this soup originated, the following wild herbs are often used:
watercress, nettles, yarrow, dandelions, chickweed and common sorrel.
These may not be available in all parts of the world but wouldn't it be very exciting to experiment with your local, edible 'weeds'?
Just make sure that you know exactly what you are using and that it is definitely edible and not toxic.
Semolina Dumpling Soup
Ingredients:
1 1/2 oz. butter
1 large egg
1/2 gal. water
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 oz. semolina
1 cup meat broth
1/2 bunch parsley (chopped)
salt
pepper
Stir the butter until foamy.
Add the egg, a pinch of salt, some pepper and the nutmeg.
Gradually add the Semolina while stirring until you have a workable dough.
Let the dough rest for 1 hour (preferably in the fridge) and in the meantime bring 1/2 gal. of water to the boil.
Take a teaspoon or rather small tablespoon and cut small dumplings out of the dough.
Carefully place them into the simmering water. Let simmer for about 20 - 25
minutes.
Don't place to many of the dumplings into the water, as they will double their size.
Let them drain and place them into the hot meat broth. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.
Homemade Potato Soup
Ingredients:
2 lb potatoes
2 large carrots
2 leeks
1 large onion
4 ounces of smoked bacon
1/4 celery root
1/2 gal. of meat broth
a bunch of Parsley
2 bay leaves
salt, pepper, marjoram, thyme and nutmeg
1 cup sour cream
Wash, peel and slice the potatoes, carrots, leeks and onions.
Fry the bacon and the onions for 5 - 10 minutes before you add the meat broth. Then add the potatoes, carrots leeks and bay leaves. Let cook until the vegetables are soft (appr. 30 min). Try and find the bay leaves (not an easy task sometimes) and take them out.
When finished cooking add the marjoram, thyme, salt and pepper. Add the sour cream after straining.
A lot of people in Germany like to add smoked Sausages to their Potato Soup but its not a necessity.
Did you know that in the Palatinate region of Germany, people like to eat their potato soup with plum cake. Try it out if you like. You'll find the plum cake recipe here too.
'Pichelsteiner' Stew
Ingredients:
4 oz. pork
4 1/2 oz. beef
4 1/2 oz. lamb (shoulder)
2 onions
1 celery root
3 parsnips
3 carrots
2 leeks
1/2 head of white cabbage
1/2 lbs potatoes
4 cups of vegetable broth
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon paprika
1 small bunch of fresh marjoram (chopped)
1 bunch of parsley (chopped)
Wash the meat and the vegetables thoroughly. Peel the vegetables.
Cut all the meat and the potatoes into 1 inch dices. Chop the celery root, onions and the cabbage. Slice the parsnips, carrots and leeks.
Sauté all the meat, together with the chopped onions in a saucepan for appr. 5
minutes and season with some salt, pepper and paprika. Then, take half of the meat out and spread the remaining meat out in the saucepan neatly.
What you are looking to do, is to cook your stew in layers. So half the meat mixed with the onions is your first layer.
Mix all the prepared vegetables together, except the potatoes.
Add half of the mixed vegetables into the saucepan on top of the meat, so that it builds your second layer. On top of that make a third layer with half of your prepared potatoes.
Next a layer of meat, on top of that a layer of mixed vegetables and to finish it up the last layer of potatoes.
Make sure you season every layer with salt, pepper, paprika, caraways and marjoram.
Now add the vegetable broth carefully and steam for about 1 hour at good heat. Reduce the heat slightly towards the end. Add some hot water while cooking if you deem necessary.
Don't stir while steaming, better shake the saucepan slightly from time to time.
Sprinkle with plenty of chopped parsley when serving.
Game Stew
ingredients:
21 oz. deer meat
9 oz. bacon (smoked if possible)
3 large onions
6 cups meat broth
1/2 cup juniper schnapps (if not available use any hard liquor, i.e.
Jägermeister)
4 medium sized potatoes
7 oz. peas
7 oz. lentils
7 oz. white beans
1/2 cup sour cream or crème fraiche
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of sunflower or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 bunch fresh thyme (chopped)
1 bunch fresh chives (chopped)
salt
pepper
Wash the deer meat and cut it into bite size dices. Dice the bacon, peel and slice the onions. Peel and dice the potatoes.
Get a saucepan and heat the sunflower or vegetable oil.
When hot, add the deer meat, bacon and onions, season with salt and pepper and fry for about 5 minutes.
Add the juniper schnapps, Jägermeister or liquor of your choice, leave for a couple of seconds (Attention! depending on the strength of your liquor it could flame up for a second) and carefully add the meat broth.
Now add the potato dices too. Let simmer for 10 minutes, add the bay leaves and let simmer for another 10 minutes.
Take half of your peas, lentils and beans and grind them finely (use a meat grinder or anything similar)
Add the mixture to the stew to bind it.
Stir vigorously while doing so.
Add the other half to the stew as it is. Let simmer for another 10 - 15 minutes, add the vinegar to taste. Let simmer for another 10 minutes and add the sour cream or crème fraiche just before serving.
Serve very hot in a bowl or deep plate and sprinkle with the fresh chives and thyme.
Old German Potato Pot
Ingredients:
18 oz. Beef
1 cup meat broth
1 cup white wine
1 lbs potatoes
2 leeks
4 carrots
1/2 celery root
1 parsnip
4 tomatoes
salt
pepper (white)
1/2 teaspoon of dried basil
1/2 teaspoon of thyme (destemmed)
1/2 teaspoon of marjoram
1/2 lbs. chanterelles
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon of chives (fresh)
Cut the beef into bite sized pieces and sauté in hot Sunflower Oil. Infuse with 1/2 a cup of the meat broth and 1/2 a cup of the white wine. Cover it and let simmer at low heat for appr. 45 minutes. In the meantime wash, peel and dice the potatoes. Wash and slice the leeks, make sure you also use the green leaves at the top. Wash and peel the carrots, celery root and parsnip also.
Slice the carrots and dice the celery root. Chop the parsnip.
Skin the tomatoes, remove the stalk bases and cut them into small pieces.
Add it all to the meat now and add the rest of the wine and the meat broth.
Season to taste with the salt, pepper, marjoram and thyme. Cover and let simmer for another 25 minutes.
5 minutes before its finished cooking, add the chanterelles.
Depending on the consistence, you may need to add some water or even better, if you have some wine or meat broth left over, use that.
Add the sour cream immediately before serving and stir well.
Now serve in a bowl and sprinkle with the fresh chives.
What a treat on a cold winters day it is.
Tip: -If you like it a bit hot, don't be afraid to add some chilly.
-If you don't have chanterelles or if you don't like them, use porcini. They are also very suitable for this dish.
