The Sauerbraten Tradition

Leaf-turning-pumpkin-mums-hot cider season. October. Thirty-one days of color culminating in an eve of children wandering in the dark in eccentric clothing begging for white sugar.

Love it.

For as long as I can remember, October was sauerbraten season. My father (not exactly Italian!) had sauerbraten on his October birthday since childhood. Great-Grandma Schmidt and Great Aunt Elsie and Great Aunt Helen were always at the helm of this birthday dinner. I do have one of those tug-at-your-heart-holiday tales regarding sauerbraten and my two great aunts carrying a sauerbraten roast, gravy, red cabbage, dumplings and the requisite pitcher of Manhattans on two subways and a bus (from the Bronx to Queens) during a particularly difficult New Year's Eve. Their intent was to nourish body and soul. It was a spirit-saver. The post is here: My Three Magi. There's also a simpler version of sauerbraten there as I hadn't found my mother's yet.

My father passed five years ago. Nobody had the heart to make the sauerbraten for a while. And then my mother joined my father and the sauerbraten meal remained in the past. Until this year. It was time to revive happy celebrations.

My sister brought me the sauerbraten roaster that my mother used for ... let's just kindly say - decades. And I have her metal potato ricer - equally as old. I like tradition. I like playing with new but never, ever discarding the old. And that makes me fortunate because my "old" is filled with loving memory. And I loved, loved having the sauerbraten in that little blue roaster in my oven.

This is one of those things where almost all the work is done ahead of time (chorus of happy singing just started) and the work on the day of the meal (including the gravy) couldn't be easier.  So there's this ingredient list - looks long. It is long - but it's water and two types of vinegar and things like salt and sugar - nothing you need to go find at a specialty store.

And then - you get this. Tender. Warm. Autumn. October. Good.

Marinade and Meat (serves 4, easily doubled)
This is basically my great-grandmother's recipe. The addition of juniper berries and mustard seeds came from Alton Brown and I thought it was fun. I also happened to have juniper berries in my spice closet. Don't go crazy trying to find them. They are easily omitted.

3-1/2 - 4 pound *top round roast
*About the roast? You want a decent roast - certainly not a tenderloin - but not grizzly and fatty (I did trim) and you want a low roast. The sirloin tip roasts I looked at were way too tall. This should be a long, low roast. It soaks in the marinade better. Even my low roast had to be turned daily as it was not completely covered.

Marinade Ingredients - here we go!
2 cups water
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 medium onion - chopped
1 large carrot - chopped
1 tablespoon Kosher salt and 1 teaspoon Kosher salt for seasoning meat
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 bay leaves
6 whole cloves
 12 juniper berries (can omit)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds (can omit)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Before cooking:
1/3 cup sugar

For gravy:
18 gingersnap cookies - crushed

1. Combine water, vinegars, onion, carrot, 1 tablespoon of the Kosher salt, pepper, bay leaves, cloves, juniper berries and mustard seeds in saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer ten minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Pat meat dry and rub vegetable oil all over. Rub in the teaspoon of Kosher salt. Heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat and brown on all sides. (About three minutes a side.)
3. Place meat in a non-reactive container. Poor cooled marinade over it and refrigerate for 3-5 days (I did five days) turning daily if not completely submerged.
4. When ready to cook, place rack in middle of oven and preheat to 325 F. Add the sugar to the marinade. Cook covered for four hours.
5. Remove meat and keep warm.

GRAVY (so easy)
1. Strain liquid to remove solids. Place in pan over medium-high heat. Whisk in gingersnaps and cook till thickened, stirring occasionally. Strain again to remove lumps (I didn't). You also do not need to de-fat this. I did skim the top once. Slice meat and serve.

And do serve with these dumplings. They're surprisingly easy and all the work is done ahead of time (except for the boiling).

Boil the potatoes in their jackets the day before. You can do all the steps except for the actual cooking of the dumplings the morning of the dinner.

Dumplings - makes 12 - supposedly serves 6 - (HA! I doubled the recipe for six people. None were left!)
1-1/2 pounds Russet potatoes (about 2 large). Do use Russet - they are low moisture and the dumplings hold together well
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (you can use more)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 cup cornstarch
1 large egg

DAY BEFORE: Cook scrubbed, unpeeled potatoes in a large pot of salted boiling water for 45 minutes. Refrigerate over night. Really. Just plan on it.

CAN DO WHILE MEAT IS COOKING; CAN DO MORNING OF MEAL:
1. Peel potatoes and run through a potato ricer. You can mash them - but the ricer really makes them smooth.
2. Mix in salt and nutmeg.
3. Using hands, mix in flour and cornstarch. Knead until it forms a smooth dough. You can add more flour if it is sticky. I didn't need to.
4. Add egg and mix in using your hands. (The best kitchen utensil by far!)
5. Form dough into balls using 1/4 cup for each.

If making ahead: place balls on a pan lined with wax paper lightly dusted with flour. Refrigerate.

When ready to cook: (I was making 24 dumplings so I started the process 20 minutes before the meat was ready.)

Cook dumplings in nearly/almost not-quite boiling, salted water. Only cook four at a time - you don't want them touching each other and sticking to each other while cooking. Semi-boil for ten-fifteen minutes (until they rise to the top). You can cover them to keep them warm or put them in a warm oven (I turned off the oven when the meat came out and placed the dumplings in it while the other dumplings cooked.)

Do serve with red cabbage. Do buy the jars of red cabbage. You don't have to make everything.

There were six of us for the sauerbraten meal - six family members reliving old tradition that happened to be delicious. And there was sweet remembrance at the table.

These are bonus days. Only one hard frost and I am still enjoying geraniums, shrub roses, petunias, violets, mums and herbs. The burning bushes are bursting fiery red. More candles will get lit as the days get darker.

Our King Maple had to come down this week. We will miss it (and it's accompanying hosta glade). The garden will evolve and the seasons turn. And sometimes you get to return to a past memory. It's different. It, too evolves. But it never goes away.

Summerfall: Eggplant Dip and an Apple-Pear Salad

We pulled the last plants from the garden. It's warm: summer-fall. The crisp nights have just started. September spent too much time in the 80's. (My DNA has changed since I moved to Minnesota. 80 is just plain hot to me.) I am itching to warm cider, throw on boots and scarves and dig out my blue-plaid blanket for cuddles.

Don't tell me that January is coming. I know. I may even be ready. But first, I will work with what I have and that is Summer-Fall. Time to use up the last of summer vegetables before we become squirrels, digging up the roots.

This is Ina Garten's recipe and it's simple (I can write an ode to simplicity these days), healthy (I know it's a buzz word - just throwing it in there and we won't speak about my ten pound weight gain) and quite tasty (most important).

ROASTED EGGPLANT DIP INGREDIENTS:

2 eggplants

2 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons parsley

1 red pepper

1 red onion

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons tahini

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper (I used more)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use more)

1-1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut eggplants, bell pepper and onion into 1 inch cubes. Toss them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, cayenne, salt and peppers. Roast for 45 minutes. Turn them 1 time halfway through baking. 

Remove from oven. Cool slightly. Put vegetables in food processor and add the lemon juice and tahini. Pulse 3 or 4 times to blend. Adjust salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and garnish with fresh parsley.

We've gone to the apple orchards a few times. A happy by-product of living here is the easy access to  quite a few orchards. We've come home laden with pies, apple doughnuts and even - fresh apples! (The pies and doughnuts have nothing to do with my weight gain.)

This is one of those salads that you wind up craving in the fall. It's not one of those foods that "you should eat because it's good for you." The fact that it is indeed buzz-word healthy should be ignored. Make this before the only thing fresh in the produce aisles are turnips.

APPLE PEAR SALAD (serves 4) (Recipe from Recipe Runner)

(I'm not going to give amounts. You know how much lettuce and fruit and almonds you want, right?)

1 small apple (or more)

1 small, perfectly ripe pear (or more)

Your favorite tender lettuces: spring mix, butter lettuce, mache, young spinach

Almonds (sliced and toasted)

dried cherries or dried cranberries

feta cheese

bacon (2-4 slices, optional but the salty crunch in the salad is highly recommended by all the humans in the house)

AUTUMN SALAD DRESSING

1 minced shallot

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all in a jar and shake and bring to the table - allowing people to add their own dressing and ensuring the salad doesn't get soggy. Soggy salads are sad.

Cioppino-Bambino went to the vet for his first year check-up. 15.2 pounds. When we got him at four months he was 4.1 pounds. But unlike his owner - not overweight. He has landing gear for paws, a true lion's mane (Kirsten wanted him shaved to look like a lion when I had his matted fur combed out; I resisted) and a lemur tail. The vet confirmed that there's a lot of Maine Coon in this chatty boy. 

In true Italian fashion, I currently have sauerbraten marinating in the fridge in honor of my father. (Every Sunday doesn't have to be pasta even though most should be.) Meanwhile, hope you are having a leaf-crunching, apple-laden, blue sky, sugar maple summerfall!

(Almost) No-Cooking Required

I've been making this no-cook tomato sauce for about nine years. Sometime in 2006, I hosted a summer dinner for my parents. I brought out this no-cook tomato sauce with angel hair pasta and my father exclaimed, "I saw this on the cover of Bon Appetit. I turned to your mother and said, "That's definitely a Claudia meal."

And so it has been. And I treasure that little memory (funny what you remember, isn't it?). I did indeed make it with angel hair pasta for eight years. And the tomato sauce slid off the pasta and happily attached itself to the bottom of the bowl. I got used to eating a forkful of pasta and then a forkful of sauce. Both were tasty enough. And they seemed destined to never be a couple on a fork.

I am making a concerted effort to use up my bounty (the above is what I have been getting twice a day). I have shared with neighbors, given bushels away to the kids and sent bags of bounty to Paul's work. I am serious about growing sunflowers next summer. After all, the Farmer's Market is teeming with vegetables. And I don't can. And I don't intend to start.

In my ninth year of making no-cook tomato sauce, I wised up. I thought, "Aha! Tubular pasta! That's the ticket! The sauce can get inside the tubes and I will finally have pasta and its sauce together on  fork.

Well, no. It slid out of the rigatoni and down to the bottom of the bowl. I supposed I could literally stuff the chopped tomatoes into penne and finally get my double-forkful - but that seems like a lot of work for the summer.

But even if I don't have luck with getting the pasta and the sauce to marry - I do proclaim its deliciousness, it's ability to use up a lot of tomatoes at one sitting and the smiley-face that Paul puts on when he learns we are having this for dinner.

No Cook Tomato Sauce - for four but two are very happy with it
(This is more of a suggestion than a recipe)
8-12 tomatoes (depending on size and variety. I Used about 4 plum tomatoes, 3 San Marzano tomatoes and a bunch of sweet cherry tomatoes.)
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves - cut into slivers
1/4-1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley
(can also use oregano and thyme)
3-4 garlic cloves - minced or sliced
1/4-1/3 cup olive oil
salt and red pepper to taste
Parmesan for serving

1/2-1 pound your favorite pasta

Coarsely chop your tomatoes. No peeling or seeding is necessary. Early in the day, combine all the ingredients. Cover and let sit on your cabinet for the day. The flavors will meld - at least the flavors will marry.

These days, I warm the garlic in the olive oil to get rid of the pungent taste. It's a sweeter, gentler sauce. But - not absolutely necessary.

Moving on.

Below is the prettiest soup. I saw it in The St. Paul Pioneer Press and noted that it used up a zucchini, a tomato and a cucumber. And that's been my mission the last few weeks. Use up! It's tangy and refreshing and we have started many a meal with this.

Buttermilk-Yogurt Soup
2-1/2 cups buttermilk
3/4 cup yogurt
1 cucumber - diced
1 tomato - diced
1 zucchini - thinly sliced
4 tablespoons fresh chives
2 tablespoons thyme
salt and pepper to taste

(You can also use thinly sliced radishes, scallions.......)

Combine. Chill at least one hour or overnight.

(Don't you just love recipes like this?)

And from Frank's blog Memorie di Angelina:

Caponata napoletana

And I'll send you to him for the recipe: Caponata Napoletana. It's so good, we have had it as our salad, for lunch and this morning - for breakfast!

I've mentioned before the changes that happen in your sixties - not the obvious - "woe-is-me-I'm-ageing" but the subtle changes that occur. The ability to know yourself and accept yourself in a way that didn't always seem possible before (and I wish it did for me but better late than never). Aside from not loving temps about 75 degrees F anymore (which may be a by-product of finally morphing into a Minnesotan), I've lost my love of cities. I still love visiting the arts and culture and will continue to do so - but when I have time - I look for the green space. Is it the density in the cities? Not sure. But this former New York City diehard can find her thoughts better out in the open. And so we head to Big Sky country tomorrow - just because.

And on our way to Montana, we will be passing through the sunflower fields in South Dakota. (There's poetry out there.)

I hear Will Nelson singing to me, "Big Skies..... smiling at me...."

Or something like that. That song still makes me smile.

Happy mid-August!

Zucchini, Zucchini, Zucchini, Zucchini and Summer

Zucchini chips, zucchini tian, zucchini fries, zucchini roll ups (with prosciutto and provolone - very nice). Zucchini sliced, shaved and spiraled. 20 cups of zucchini chopped up for breads and cakes - later. Much later. Maybe January. I beg my neighbors to take the zucchini, fill bags of zucchini for family members. And I may just wander to a nearby parking lot and put zucchini in the car of anyone with an open car window.

I like the stuff. But we are now empty nesters and 4 zucchini plants is a wee bit excessive these days. Maybe it's time to grow sunflowers....

But for now - I have zucchini. The above zucchini is pasta is really lovely (of course it is! It has carbs!) I spiraled a yellow squash and a large-but-not-club-like zucchini and mixed it with a little pasta. Dressed it with the quintessential olive oil, pepper and Parmesan and five people were very happy at dinner last night. It's an easy, meatless, summer-light meal. And it uses up one large zucchini!

And that's the recipe - all is done to taste. I've done it with pesto and tomato sauce - but those sauces were a wee bit heavy for the delicate squash. 

And these are good. You don't think you're having a potato - but you lap it up anyway. Cut a medium zucchini into 8 pieces. (Slice in half and quarter each half). Dip in an egg wash (1 egg with a little bit of water - beaten). And then roll in 1/2 cup Panko mixed with 1/2 cup of Parmesan. Bake at 425 F for 20 minutes. Serve with Ranch (husband favorite) or marinara sauce (wife favorite).

It's Midsummer.  And it will be Christmas any day now, right? So I am trying to embrace the heat. After being in Minnesota for .... well... that would be decades .... I am no longer wired for heat. When we hit 75 degrees, I think, "'I'm meting." Something tells me I couldn't retire not Florida...

All my recipes this week have been:
a. easy
b. light
c. easy
d. appropriate for "I'm melting weather."

And that would be this: Grilled Swordfish with Lemon Caper Sauce

It does have those scary carbs (breadcrumbs and Panko) but not much. And it's served with a creamy-lemon-caper sauce that is midsummer happiness. It is from both Ciao Chow Linda (find her version here) and Roz's La Bella Vita Cucina (find her version here).

And because it is Midsummer, it's necessary to stay hydrated. I found this recipe for a Cosmopolitan on Kitchen Riff's blog. Don't let the pinky-frou-frou-Sex-and-the-City-association fool you. It's a serious drink. Citron vodka, Cointreau, fresh lime juice and a touch of the cranberry juice.

It was a happy patio last Friday night. Find the recipe here.

We live two blocks off the lake. We picnic on the lake. And inexplicably - we vacation on other lakes.

And when Renegade Theatre selected A Paper Forest as one of their plays for a new Play Reading Series, we used it as an excuse to spend some time at the "Big Lake" (aka Lake Superior).

And while it was wonderful that both husband and son could join me for the reading, I think the highlight for them was the new craft beer Brewery located in Canal Park - right on the lake.

I will embrace the heat because this is Minnesota and by the end of August, our patio might need a little fire for warmth. Wishing you warmth and cool and zucchini and lakes. Happy Midsummer!

Raspberry Lemon Tart and Things

There was a birthday (and a raspberry lemon tart) - which merits a little discussion - because I don't know how to act my age. In fact - I am confounded by my age when I look in the mirror - wondering who this person - in her sixth decade - is? I was good with 40. Fifty was a breeze - although I colored my hair more often. But this sixty stuff - really has me evaluating. And it's not like I turned sixty yesterday. No - it happened a while ago. Of course - wasn't 1990 a while ago?

And rather than churn out another blog entry - I have thought for months where it is going. I've been very sporadic - because I want to veer in another direction (mostly Italian, simpler than ever - because at sixty there is a sense of mortality that didn't come with other decades).

And also sporadic because of this:

This is the tenth draft. In my heyday of posting a few times a week, I noticed that I wasn't writing plays. If you're a playwright - not writing plays is frowned up. June 30th I did finished my 10th draft of And the Universe Didn't Blink (now titled Bound by Stardust). It's been a bridesmaid in every contest it's been entered in - but never the bride and so I begin again. And if you know of a theatre that would like a peak at a play that contains physics, magical realism, the Russian explorer Otto Schmidt, grief and how to hang a mirror on a star to view the past - please send them my way. 

But you're probably here for the tart. The easy raspberry-lemon tart - because if there's one thing I have succumbed to at age 60 - is ease. I will save the time-consuming, detailed stuff for the plays. I found it here. It really is summery-sweet: easy, light, easy, fruity, easy...

Raspberry Lemon Tart - serves 6-8 depending if people want a credit-card slice or something more meaningful

1 sheet puff pastry - thawed but still cold

1 egg for egg wash (and some flour for rolling)

4 ounces mascarpone cheese

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons of cream (I used milk)

1/3 cup lemon curd (homemade or store bought)

1 pint raspberries (I used more because my backyard raspberries are on steroids)

1/4 cup raspberry jam, warmed (I omitted because I didn't have it)

powdered sugar

Tart
Preheat oven to 425 degrees f.
With a little flour dusting, roll into rectangle (they suggested a 10 x 11 rectangle - mine was taller and leaner - because I wish I was taller and leaner)
Transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Brush the edges with a little water. Fold over each side to create a "lip" on all the edges. Pierce all over with a fork. Gently brush all with your egg wash (a beaten egg mixed with a tablespoon of water).
Bake for 15-20 minutes (mine was getting brown at 15 minutes).
With the back of a spoon, gently press down any bubbles in the middle that puffed. Cool on wire rack.

(Can be made ahead. When cool, wrap carefully in plastic and refrigerate.)

Filling
Take out a medium sized bowl. By hand or with electric beaters, beat cheese with sugar until sugar is incorporated. Beat in the milk or cream. Fold in the lemon curd.

(Can be made ahead. Wrap bowl in plastic and refrigerate.)

Assembly
Pour lemon curd mixture into the middle of prepared tart. Spread evenly to the edges. Place the berries on top. Brush with warmed jam. Sprinkle powdered sugar over all.

I assembled this one hour before serving. It is best not to assemble this too early. Swap out the raspberries for strawberries or blueberries. Use cream cheese instead of mascarpone. Try a raspberry curd instead of the lemon curd. This is a good recipe for playtime.

Another frustration of being 60 is this weight thing. So we often low-carb it during the week (and we won't discuss how high my weight is compared to last summer... shhh ... I said we won't discuss it) ...

But this is a nifty, low-carb treat that I thought I'd share.

Cucumbers topped with chive cream cheese and smoked salmon. 

And apropos of absolutely nothing because I am not writing a play but having fun with blogging, below is a not-so-still-life of Pino and zucchini. The fur-feline loves zucchini! Who knew?

Have a great week, all!