Rösti - German (or Swiss) Hash Browns & Eggs

Eggs & Potatoes.  That's a hearty breakfast!  For the last few Sundays, the men in my life have requested my "Best Pancakes".  They really are good, but sometimes I need to eat protein with my carbs!  It must be the Bavarian in me, but I'm a potato lover. Potatoes and eggs, is exactly what I was craving, when I thought of this dish.   I haven't made Rösti  in quite a while.  They really are similar to American-Style hash browns, and they are quite easy to make-- especially while, in the middle of grumbling how much I hate to hand grate potatoes, my husband points out where the shredding blade to my food processor has been hiding for months!

(Thinking to myself "it's been hiding because it's been put where it doesn't belong"... grumble, grumble.) I happily abandoned this task and set up the food processor.

Much easier!  Since I was cooking for two, I used three Yukon Gold Potatoes.  Not having to peel potatoes is a shortcut that I'll take, any chance I can get.

Here's where the rubber meets the road.  Potatoes have a lot of moisture in them.  If you've ever tried to make homemade hash browns, and they turned out gummy...  you can avoid that problem by squeezing the excess water from grated potatoes.  If you own a potato ricer, the job is done very easily. Otherwise, you need to use a cheese cloth (or tea towel) and a lot of elbow grease.  Look at all that water!

By the way, I use this technique with thawed or cooked spinach.

There are different variations of Rösti.  You can add bacon, cheese or onion. Or, all three.

Since the Cuisinart was already used, I grated 1/2 an onion.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil, and season with pepper and go light on the salt.  You can always add more.  Toss to distribute.

I'm using a non-stick skillet, but a cast-iron does a great job, too.  I add a little more olive oil and one pat of unsalted butter. Evenly spread the potatoes and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes.  You can press down on the potatoes, but I use a bacon press.  Lift a corner, and when the potatoes have a golden brown, flip over with a large spatula.   The total cooking time was 20 minutes. 

Adding eggs on top is an option.  Sure, you can cook eggs on the side, but I thought I'd test a theory that I could cook the eggs on top-- thus one less pan to clean up.

I decided to put a lid on top...and I waited, and crossed my fingers.  It took a few minutes...

Whew. It worked.

Breakfast is served.

If runny egg yolks make you squeamish, skip the eggs on top.  Serve this with scrambled eggs.  This is a great side dish for dinner, as well.

VERDICT:  Pancake loving husband was very quiet.  This is a good sign, as all I could hear was the fork hitting the plate.  After cleaning off his plate, I got a big "thank you".  The potatoes weren't gummy, and they were flavorful.  Who needs to buy frozen grated potatoes?  Sure, it took a little more prep work, but it's cheaper and just plain delicious.

Delicious!  It will satisfy any kind of appetite, including the hungry men in my home.

Christmas Easy German Stollen

Whatever happened to my childhood Christmas time-line? As a kid, it seemed as though that special day of our family gathering to celebrate on Christmas Eve would never come.  Being of German descent, my mother would make a traditional German dinner and then the kids would disappear into our bedrooms. We couldn't come out until we heard Mutti ringing a bell to signal that the "Krist Kindlein" (Christ Child) had come. Our parents weren't particularly well-to-do, but my memories were that gifts were abundant.


Now that my parents are gone, I try to carry on the traditions to my own son and niece.  German Stollen is very much a part of my Christmas childhood memories.  I've never made my own Stollen, and it's been my Recipe Bucket List for several Christmas's past. In the meantime,  I have resorted to buying German Stollen's from Trader Joe's. They're not bad, as long as you eat a slice with a cup of coffee.  A few days ago, I spotted King Arthur Flour's recipe for their Easiest Stollen. Traditional Stollen is made with yeast; this version uses ricotta cheese and baking powder. I was intrigued, and grateful, to find a short-cut since December 23rd was the first-- and only-- day that I had to bake something to give as gifts.

There are two ingredients that King Arthur recommends to make this recipe-- Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor and Lemon Oil.  I fell in-love with the Buttery Sweet Dough flavor, about a year ago.  It smells like yellow cake batter, and it gives a special flavor to any of your baked goods.  Trust me, this is one of my favorite products that I order from King Arthur Flour's website (yes, I pay for it... I'm not given this for free).  The lemon oil is a great product, because it's a natural product, made from the lemon rind (unlike lemon extract).  Is it required that you use these?  No.  The lemon oil is a shortcut from having to zest lemons, and I think it packs a great punch of lemon citrus.  Of course, you need pure vanilla.

As you can see, I shop, often, online at KAF-- I bought this European candied mix peel, last Christmas. It was destined to become Stollen.  It never happened, so I used half to make an Easter Ricotta Pie.  The other half was exactly enough to make this stollen recipe-- and it was still good to go!  You can use any kind of dried fruit-- cranberries, raisins... whatever you like.  If I didn't have this fruit, I would have chosen golden raisins because they are very traditional.

Almonds are the traditional nut to add to Stollen. I didn't have slivered almonds, but I always keep a bag of sliced almonds on hand.  These are already toasted, which really brings out the flavor.

For the dry ingredients, we need flour, salt, baking powder and salt...

For the wet ingredients, we need ricotta cheese, vanilla. Add lemon zest or use the optional lemon oil and Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor...

...give it whisk and smell.  Wow!  The aroma smells so good with the vanilla, lemon and emulsion!

The dry ingredients are whisked together, and then the nuts and dried fruit is added...

Now, we need COLD butter.  

 My shortcut is to grate cold (or frozen) butter. It works great!

Time to make dough!

With a stand-mixer, it takes a minute or two (or, you can do this by hand).

Perfect!

Now, we add the wet ingredients...

...and mix until the flour is just moistened. Don't overwork it!

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead it two or three times, until it holds together.

Cut the dough in half. In my case, I cut the dough into thirds. I was going to give two away, and keep one for "us".

My own "twist" to this recipe was to add a very traditional ingredient-- Marzipan.  I love it.  Skip it if you don't like it...

I decided to make one Stollen without marzipan and two with (guess which one is for "us"?) Now fold the Stollen in half, leaving the top half a little short of the edge. (I have read that the shape is to symbolize the Baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.)

These are baked at 325F for about 40 minutes. Because these are smaller (at 3 Stollen), I set my timer for 25 minutes. They are perfect and smell really great!  To me, they seemed more like a large cookie..but I carried on with the next few steps:

Remove the stollen from the oven, and transfer to a rack. Brush them each with 2 to 3 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle heavily with confectioners’ sugar.

Allow the stollen to cool, then brush with butter again, and sprinkle with sugar again. I know this appears to be a bit excessive, but trust me-- it's how the German's roll (said with affection).

Now, for the moment of truth...

VERDICT: This recipe gets the O-M-G rating from me!  The stollen reminds me of Biscotti, without the crunch of a second bake.  The outside texture is a little crunchy, which isn't how must authentic stollens are.  However, the inside is moist and has just the right amount of density to it. The flavor... (rolls eyes).  I think the Buttery Sweet Dough flavor is something you have to experience.  The flavor tastes like vanilla, lemon and butter. The fruit is just the right amount.  The powdered sugar coating give just the right amount of balance.  I'm beginning to have my first pangs of greed selfishness.

One Stollen was devoured by my husband and son.  They loved it!  I set one Stollen on the table, unsliced.  Is this a subliminal message "look, but don't eat"?

The next day, I unwrapped the third Stollen, and gave it  a fresh dusting of powdered sugar.

VERDICT #2: I think these taste better after a day...or two. The spirit of giving is alive and well!  OK, so I didn't give these away. I shared them. This is a new Christmas tradition for me to make, only I'll quadruple how much I make.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I like this recipe better than the yeast type of bread. Seriously. I don't think I'll wait an entire year to make this again.  A slice, or two, of this with a hot cup of coffee brings back memories of watching my Mutti dunk hers with glee.  

The Stollen recipe is posted below:

Merry Christmas 2010!

Soft Pretzels (German "Bretzen") for our Oktoberfest 2010 Party

My mother was born and raised in Bavaria.  She met my father, who was stationed in Salzburg, Austria.  They married in Salzburg in1954, and she moved to America.  My mom became a US Citizen in 1957, but she hung on to her Bavarian heritage with pride. She came from a lineage of  great cooks, and her grandmother owned a successful restaurant in Bad Reichennhall, Bavarian.   I can remember my mother, at a very young age, teaching me how to make our family's favorite recipes. My mother passed on October 13, 2002. Since then, I have started a family tradition, of hosting an Oktoberfest dinner in memory of my "Mutti".

I don't need written recipes, because I can make them from memory.  (One of the reasons I started my blog was to recreate these recipes so that they won't be lost). Yesterday was our 7th Oktoberfest, so Craig put on Bavarian Oom-Pa-Pa music, to start the festive mood. At first, I could feel a big lump in my throat as I rolled up my sleeves and started making her dishes.  Mutti is gone, but I felt a sense of her presence as I spent the next six hours making her Austrian Goulash, German Potato Salad, Spaetzle, and Red Cabbage.  Of course, we had traditional sausages-- but just a few.  The Goulash is my personal favorite dish.  It's a stew with a rich sauce of tomato sauce and paprika.

 
This year, I opted out on making the traditional Bavarian Semel Knoedel (bread dumplings). Instead,  I made a big batch of homemade spaetzle.

 
To keep the carbs coming, I decided I wanted to make Bavarian "Bretzen"... otherwise known as Soft Pretzels, in America.    Thanks to my lovely blogger friend, Monica, of "Lick the Bowl Good" I found the perfect recipe.   Her stellar photos showed how to shape the dough into the pretzel twist.    She promised they were fast and easy-- and I needed that. I had been in the kitchen for almost five hours and I had 90 minutes until the guests arrived-- could it be done by then?  The answer is "yes"!  I didn't photograph each step, because I was running out of time and energy.  The steps were simple, and you can find a printable recipe at the bottom of this post.  You start with warm water, sugar, salt and a packet of dry yeast. In five minutes it was foamy. Using my Kitchen Aid Stand mixer, and the dough hook, I added flour, and melted butter.  That's it!  In one hour, the dough had doubled...

The dough was divided into 8 pieces and rolled into a 24" coil. Shaping them was easy, thanks to Monica's great photos .  I was in a rush, so I didn't have time to photograph the steps (click here, if you want to see Monica's). The fun part was dipping them into a pot of boiling water, with baking soda. That took 30 seconds, each.  I brushed them with an egg wash and sprinkled kosher salt on them.

The aroma is intoxicating!  The Bretzen were ready, just as our guests arrived. Traditionally, Bavarians like to slice this in half and butter them.  

VERDICT:  Fool-proof to make. Seriously fast and easy.  They are fun to make. Kids would have fun rolling the dough.  The flavor-- oh, Bavaria!  Slightly crunch on the outside. Soft and chewy on the inside. I like being able to adjust how much salt I want on them.  They are outstanding!  I'm making more today. Yes, I am!

Craig and I prefer the with beer. Yeah, it's like that...

It was a labor of love, to present traditional and authentic German Oktoberfest dishes.  If only my mom was alive to see this.  Somehow, I can feel a sense of closeness to her when I am making her recipes.  If you like German food, I hope you enjoy trying them.  My mother would be pleased.

Prost, Mutti!

I'm submitting this recipe to "Yeastspotting".  Now that the weather is cooler, I'll be baking more breads. This blog has a tempting array of beautiful photos and recipes.