Peter’s Knödeln
This recipe is enough for 4 normal sized people, 8 Anorexia Teenagers or 2 People with an unhealthy appetite.
1 Baguette (preferably a day old and made into crumbs)
1 1/2 large cup of slightly warmed full fat milk
2 eggs
Parsley
Chives
Flour (not self-raising)
Mix with a fork the warm milk into the bread crumbs until its thoroughly soggy. Add the 2 eggs, parsley and chives and mix thoroughly. (This is the moment when you can add variations to the basic mix such as bits of bacon - go wild - knock yourself out). Add the flour in small amounts until the mix is still moist but holds together. Now take a small portion of the mix and roll it in your hands into a rough ball shape. Drop the ball into boiling water into which you have added a little flour (to stop the ball falling apart). Repeat until the mix is used up.
When the Knödeln float to the top of the pan and have ‘swum’ for a couple of minutes they are done. Remove and leave to drain.
Traditionally served in Germany with a heavy full cream, red wine and stock sauce.
Wunderbar!
Your Dottie.
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Dottie’s Delicious Home Made Snert (Pea soup)
This recipe is enough for 4 normal sized people, 8 Circuit Queens or 2 Bears.
Some of the ingredients are in Dutch because I haven’t the faintest idea what half of it is called in English - so I’m afraid the foreigners amongst you are going to have to Google a bit.
Traditionally there should be carrots in this recipe but I don’t trust Grocers, and I never know where their carrots have been, but that’s a personal worry of mine so never mind.
300 g Schouderkarbonade
300 g Hamlappen
300 g Speklappen
500 g Split Peas (Spliterwten)
1 Leek (Prei) chopped roughly
1 Handful of Selderij
1 Large Potato (kruimig) finely diced
2 Sweet Onions chopped roughly
1 Fresh Garlic (Knoflook) finely diced (or 2 cloves of dried garlic)
2 Laurierbladen (preferably fresh, but dried will do)
1 Dessert Spoon (Eetlepel) Worcestershire sauce
Salt & Pepper
Optional:
1 Smoked Sausage (Rookworst)
Wash the Split Peas and put them, with all the meat, in a pan with 2 liter salted water to boil for 30 minutes.
Skim the crud off the top once in a while, and please do not walk away and leave it because if you don’t stir regularly it will burn at the bottom.
Prepare the vegetables and herbs and place them all in the pan. Another 30 minutes of slow boiling will mush the peas and break up the potato. You should see the colour of the soup changing through yellow to green. Keep stirring - you have been warned.
Take out all the meat and remove the bones from the karbonade. Chop the meat roughly into bite sized chunks and replace in the pan. Add the Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Let everything simmer for at least another 30 minutes.
I’m not a Smoked Sausage (Rookworst) fan so I don’t often add it, and living with my nephew I never know quite where its been (see Grocers and carrots). If I do its warmed up in the Microwave and cut and thrown in just before I serve the soup.
Ideally the soup should be made the day before eating, or at least let it stand in the fridge for a couple of hours before you warm it up again and serve it - it’s worth the wait I promise.
You shouldn’t need to serve anything with this soup because its so full of goodness - but if you do decide to serve smaller portions as a starter you may like to also serve Dark Rye Bread (Roggebrood) with butter and rock salt.
For the Haute Cuisine fans - I once made this soup without the meat but using bouillon instead of water, pureed everything and forced it through a sieve. Served it in small cups with Rye Bread slivers decorated with Smoked Salmon and Dill (Dille). Give it a go I say.
Happy Cooking!
Dottie
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