Usually I am one for tradition but this year I just couldn't stomach another roast turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes right on the heels of Thanksgiving. (Which is saying a lot since mashed potatoes are my most favorite-ist food.) I suggested to my wonderful husband that we might try a German feast this year and the enthusiasm he exhibited would have frightened small children and animals.Last year my hubbers had made this delicious white-meat turkey stuffed with dark-meat apricot sausage. He wanted to make the sausage again but this time make it into links with a sausage stuffer and everything. He also had made this supremely, delightful cranberry-bourbon relish so we knew that would make another showing.
I checked out Great German-American Feasts from the library and we started searching. From that cookbook we decided on rotkohl (vinegared red cabbage), mustard-glazed carrots, Austrian pork loin, spaetzel (noodley-dumpling things) and maple sweet-potato puff topped with pecans. We also made turkey schnitzel (boneless breast pounded thin, breaded and fried), a cremini-shiitake mushroom sauce, and cheese fondue with homemade pumpernickel, rye and sourdough loaves. (The fondue flopped terribly, to our great sadness. It separated and while it tasted delicious, it was quite disturbing to gaze upon.) Our friends brought over a ham.
For dessert I made a pumpkin pie and we served the leftover cupcakes from my daughter's birthday. Our friends made pumpkin bars, flourless chocolate cake and a truffle layer cake.
I think the word of the day was STUFFED.
Pictured above are: apricot-turkey sausages (Dug added apricots and pinenuts to this recipe), mustard-glazed carrots, Austrian pork loin and cranberry-bourbon relish.
Next we have from front right: turkey schnitzel (in the recipe, we substituted turkey breast slices for the pork and we didn't use the mushroom sauce, although we have in the past and it is good.), a big ol' ham, and rotkohl (red cabbage all spiced-up and yummy).
At the far end of the table we had starting at front right: spaetzle, cremini-shiitake mushroom sauce (Dug's original recipe below) and maple sweet-potato puff topped with pecans.
Lastly, our dessert table: chocolate cupcakes from last night, flourless chocolate cake, truffle cake and pumpkin pie.
Dug's Mushroom Sauce
8 oz sliced mushrooms (get a variety)
2 T chopped onion
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1/2 c white wine
1 c turkey broth
2 T flour
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
Saute mushrooms in butter and oil until mushrooms release juices. Add white wine and bring to boil. Take some of the juices and mix with flour to make a paste. Add flour mixture and broth to mushrooms and reduce til thickened. Add parsley and adjust seasonings to taste. Makes 1 1/2 to 2 cups.
8 oz sliced mushrooms (get a variety)
2 T chopped onion
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1/2 c white wine
1 c turkey broth
2 T flour
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
Saute mushrooms in butter and oil until mushrooms release juices. Add white wine and bring to boil. Take some of the juices and mix with flour to make a paste. Add flour mixture and broth to mushrooms and reduce til thickened. Add parsley and adjust seasonings to taste. Makes 1 1/2 to 2 cups.
2 comments:
This all sounds and looks so very yummy! The way we keep our cheese fondue (yes, we fondue about 3-4 ties a year!)from separating is you need a touch of acid and make sure your grated cheese is tossed with some flour (~1 tbsp--as you slowly add the cheese to your liquid in the pot, the excess flour sifts off of the shreds). Also, your temp should be managed so as not to hit too high of a spike. But to me, fondue rocks even if it has a couple of lumps in it... we eat it anyway when mine comes out "different" than the recipe. (((HUGS)))
Oh, btw!!! The table looks awesome!!!
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