Monday Mouthful Roundup and the Next Challenge: Spaetzle

Last week's French challenge for Monday Mouthful, as you know from my previous post, was Champignons de Paris (or mushrooms). Go check out ChefE's Crepe Suzette 'Champignons' for another delicious take on champignons à la française...

The next challenge is something that you can find at almost every German restaurant (and certainly at every Alsatian one)--Spaetzle. Spaetzle is a German noodle that is often served as a side dish and fried up after boiled. We often buy premade Spaetzle, and just last week my husband fried some up with a little butter, bacon, onion and parmesan cheese, but we've been wanting to make this noodle from scratch for a while now. Please join us in the next challenge! Because weekly challenges can be a little demanding, we've decided to make this an every-other-week thing, so you''l have two weeks to try this recipe. (We'll post on Monday, May 18th.) And as always, email me or ChefE with a link to your post.

Spaetzle
Recipe from The German Cookbook: A Complete Guide to Authentic German Cooking by Mimi Sheraton
Makes about 4 cups Spaetzle, or about 6 servings.

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, well beaten
1/4 to 3/4 cup water

Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Add egg and mix. Add water gradually until batter is stiff but smooth. Press dough flat on a plate or floured board. With a sharp knife, scrape small pieces of dough off and drop into boiling salted water. There should be only one layer of Spaetzle at a time in cooking water. Boil gently 5 to 8 minutes, or
until you try a few and find them done. Remove from water with perforated spoon and drain.

Spaetzle may be served in pea, lentil or tomato soups, or as a side dish with meat or game. In the latter case, hot melted butter is usually poured over them just before serving. They may also be sauteed in butter until a bright golden color. Toasted breadcrumbs or grated Parmesan cheese may also be sprinkled over them.

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Monday Mouthful: Couscous aux Champignons

I have a confession to make. I don't like mushrooms. I've never liked them, and I probably never will. The combination of earthy flavor mixed with the weird spongy texture just doesn't do it for me. So you'll be surprised that I'm posting a mushroom recipe. Why is that? Well, it's Monday Mouthful and ChefE over at Cook Appeal chose mushrooms as our ingredient this week, and I never told her that I didn't like mushrooms--I was just too embarrassed to tell her (or anyone in the culinary world) that I detest those funghi. Before today, I've never even cooked a mushroom since my husband shares this dislike with me. I agonized all week about what I was going to do about this, and had even considered making cupcakes shaped like mushrooms, but that just isn't in the spirit of Monday Mouthful at all, so I didn't do it.

Then my husband invited a student and her visiting brother over for dinner, and I thought, "Aha! I can make them eat the mushrooms! Mwahahaha..." Luckily, I had already planned on making chicken en papillote with some couscous on the side, so I decided to make two couscouses: a plain one for my husband and me and one with sauteed mushrooms for the unwitting visitors. And I justified this use in couscous by telling myself that couscous is actually a very common French food because of the strong Algerian influence in the country. I think with this version, it would be very easy to add any dried (or fresh) herbs of your choice--thyme or herbes de provence would probably be tasty--but I wanted a clean taste to go with the chicken, so only added parsley.

It turns out that only the brother and my daughter ate any of the couscous, but both had second helpings, so I assume it tasted good. I sent the leftovers home with the brother, and he seemed happy to take them. Phew! I was able to make mushrooms, not have to eat them, send the leftovers away, and be able to post this with only hours to spare. I am superwoman.

Couscous aux Champignons


1 Tbl butter
1 cup chopped various mushrooms (I used oyster, crimini and something that was called "Champignon de Paris.")
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups couscous
1 3/4 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
handful of freshly chopped parsley

Melt the butter in a saucepan that has a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for a few seconds until it starts to soften, but don't let it brown. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5-10 minutes until the mushrooms have softened. Add the stock and a small handful of chopped parsley and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the couscous, salt and pepper to taste, and cover the pot and remove it from the heat. Let it sit for 5 minutes, add another small handful of parsley, and fluff with a fork.

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French Breakfast Muffins: An Easy-to-Make Dessert

This is just a quick post for a quick and easy muffin recipe. I've had a good friend from college visiting me before heading back to Canada for her wedding, so I haven't had time to post, but I was able to make these lovely muffins. I found the recipe over at Velvet Lava and have been meaning to make them for quite a while. What pushed me over the edge was the fact that we had several people coming over expecting a dessert, and I hadn't paid attention to the fact that yesterday was May Day here in France--meaning all of the stores were closed. I had to make something from stuff I already had on-hand, and this muffin is made of just the basics. But they are oh so good...I had hoped to have a few leftover for breakfast today, but they didn't last that long. They were extremely easy to make, though, so I'm sure I'll be making them again soon!

French Breakfast Muffins
from Velvet Lava
makes 12 muffins

1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup milk

Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a mixing bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir until combined, but still a bit lumpy. Don't overmix. Fill your greased muffin pan. Bake for 20-25 muffins, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.

For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place melted butter in another small bowl. Dip the warm muffins in melted butter, then in cinnamon sugar.

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Cooking from Scratch--When Is It Worth It?

I wasn't really surprised yesterday when every single person who commented on my post said that they thought that cooking from scratch is almost always worth it because everyone who commented is a food blogger. I know I have some non-blogging lurkers out there. (I see you, Mom and Shannon!) So, I want to take this idea a step further. The article from Slate.com focused on some strange choice, I think, for from-scratch cooking. Bagels, okay, but cream cheese??? I have a two year old and am not taking the time to make that when it comes in a nice little tub already whipped at the grocery store. But there have to be some really great things that we all think are totally worth it to make from scratch...


So, when is it worth it to cook from scratch? Penelope inspired this question when she mentioned in the comments that biscotti is one of those foods that is surprisingly easy (and better) to make from scratch. I've found recently that tarts and quiches are pretty easy to make, but I'm really wondering what you have found is surprisingly easy to make.

In that same vein, what has been surprisingly difficult to make from scratch? One of my first posts was about how difficult I found it to make truffles--now that I've tried to make them, I'd much rather just buy them! I'd love to hear your stories as well.

Please leave links if you've posted about any of these easy/not-so-easy-to-make-from-scratch foods!

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Cooking from Scratch--Is It Worth It?

The rain here the last couple of days in Strasbourg has made me a little "blah" about food, so I've fallen back on some tried, true and blogged about comfort recipes. Last night I made potage crécy (or carrot soup, but I like the fancy, frenchified name better, don't you?!) and grilled cheese (made with Mimolette cheese, the closest I can find to a cheddar taste without breaking the bank here). I've made a few soups from scratch before, but none had ever made it into our normal rotation of meals. I'm not really sure why that is, but after my experience of cooking almost all of our food from scratch while living in France, I'm not sure how I'll adapt to all of those pre-packaged foods we can get in our mega-grocery stores in the U.S. I've already been thinking of ways to cook larger batches and freeze them so that my family will have made-from-scratch meals without the hassle of having to cook them all at the end of a long-day's work.

All of that to say that you should check out this article on Slate.com about whether or not it's worth it to cook from scratch. What do you think?

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Monday Mouthful--Flammekueche Roundup and Next Week's Challenge

This week's Monday Mouthful challenge was Flammekueche, and I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. I was a little fearful because although the recipe came from a trustworthy source, I had never made it before. I decided to go the traditional route because 1) I like traditional Flammekueche and 2) I forgot to get the fruit to make the dessert one! Good thing, though that I forgot the fruit because the entire two "pies" were eaten up at dinner. I did make one minor change and used red onions instead of the typical yellow onions--because I used up all the yellow ones the night before! I think I prefer yellow onions, but this was still tasty and very close to what I've had in restaurants here in Strasbourg. The only changes I'd make would be to roll out the crust a little more and season the crème fraiche a little more heavily for added flavor. If you weren't able to participate, I encourage you to try this...it's a great and easy alternative to pizza and would make some fabulous hors d'oeuvres.


Thanks to the other bloggers who participated this week! Please take a look at their takes on the traditional Alsatian dish--their submissions all had me drooling!

The Daily Spud--True to form, The Daily Spud made a lovely potato Flammekueche, which elicited an excited, "Wow! That looks good!" from my husband.

ChefE at CookAppeal--ChefE, as always, took the recipe a couple of steps further and added some beer to the crust and asparagus to both her "pie" and to her Flammekueche calzones...yummm!

And ChefE has announced next week's French challenge...Champignons de Paris! This challenge will be left open to your imagination, so we're looking for dishes (hopefully French ones!) that use mushrooms or are served with a mushroom sauce. If you haven't had a chance to join us yet, please feel free to jump in whenever! As always, if you participate, please email your link to me at mindysmouthful(at)gmail(dot)com or ChefE at elizabeth(at)cookappeal(dot)com! We'll post our results, your links, and the next challenge on Monday.

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Daring Bakers: Bailey's Cheesecake with Dulce de Leche and Chocolate

Cheesecake has always seemed like one of those desserts that is too time consuming, too sensitive, and just too much work for me. Luckily, I joined the Daring Bakers about three months ago to stretch my baking skills. The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. Which is really a challenge for me. Don't scoff, but it just seems like there's a lot to mess up with a cheesecake. Especially when the recipe calls for graham crackers, and I live in France. And even more especially when the recipe calls for cream cheese, and I live in France. After a lot of research, I settled on using fromage a tartiner instead of cream cheese and bastogne cookies for the crust. And voilà, my first cheesecake turned out well! (Although not without its minor problems...)


We had free reign to be creative, so I decided to make a Bailey's Cheesecake with Dulce de Leche and Chocolate. The cheesecake was moist and fluffy and the toppings were a great addition to the flavors. Unfortunately, the Bailey's didn't shine through as much as I would have liked, but the cheesecake was still very rich in flavor. I made a chocolate topping that I ended up having to pipe on because it was so thick...next time I'd like to thin it out a little to make it look a little less uniform in appearance. And finally, I bought a cheesecake springform pan for this, and although it said that it was one piece, I didn't find out that it was actually two pieces until after I baked the cake! This resulted in a soggy crust, but it was still tasty!

Here is the recipe with my modifications, although since I just subbed a few things, you can always do the traditional cheesecake with cream cheese and graham crackers by using the same amounts as the fromage a tartiner and bastogne cookies.

Bailey's Cheesecake with Dulce de Leche and Chocolate
adapted from Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

Crust:
2 cups bastogne cookie (or other spice cookie) crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz / 115 g butter, melted
2 Tbl / 24 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cheesecake:
24 oz / 680 g fromage a tartiner, room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs or 4 medium eggs
1 cup / 8 oz / 225 g heavy cream
1 Tbl lemon juice
1 Tbl vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 1/2 Tbl Bailey's Irish Cream

Dulce de Leche:
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Hard Chocolate Topping:
5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too. (You will need more cookie crumbs if you want a crust up the side.) Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water. (I did not do this as mentioned above, but apparently, you can also just put the pan of water on the bottom of your oven and bake the cheesecake on a rack above to prevent cracking.)

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill or put in the freezer for a few hours for easier removal from pan. Just cut around the edge of the pan and run the pan over a hot burner for a few seconds to release it. Turn it over onto a plate (if frozen, this will not affect the top of your cheesecake) and then back over onto your serving dish.

6. While baking the cake, you will need to prepare the dulce de leche. Place an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk (remove the label first) in a large stock pot (tall enough to be able to cover the can by at least four inches of water. Fill the stockpot with water so that it covers the can by at least four inches and cover. Bring to a boil and let it boil for 3 1/2 hours at a consistent, steady boil. Keep checking the water level in your pot--if it goes below four inches, add boiling water as needed. After 3 1/2 hours, turn the heat off and let it cool. Once cooled, open your can and enjoy! (**WARNING!!! During the boiling, it is extremely important to keep the can well covered by water at all times or the cans may explode, risking severe burns and a huge mess in your kitchen!!!) --borrowed from The Homesteading Housewife

7. Spread the cooled dulce de leche over the cheesecake. Put in refrigerator to chill.

8. For the hardened chocolate topping, melt the chocolate and the butter in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Stir frequently until melted. Let cool and then decorate the top of the dulce de leche layer in whichever manner you choose.

9. Store the cheesecake in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve.

If you'd like to check out what other Daring Bakers made, check out the blogroll!

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Kugelhopf Ice Cream from Corde à Linge

One of our favorite restaurants in Strasbourg is Corde à Linge, a restaurant specializing in Spätzle, a German noodle. The restaurant itself is great for many reasons, including its unique and tasty fare, but also its prime location in Petite France (one of the most picturesque areas of Strasbourg) and the fact that the restaurant is open and serves food all day long (either in the laundry-themed interior or outside next to the river). Another draw is the moderate pricing--Strasbourg can rival Paris with its restaurant prices, and any sit-down restaurant that doesn't leave you penniless at the end of the meal is a winner in my book!

But really, something that may easily be overlooked at this restaurant are their desserts. They are all homemade, beautiful and tasty. I've had several, but the one that I go back to again and again is their Kugelhopf ice cream. (Kugelhopf is a dry bread that can either be sweet or savory and is shaped almost like a bundt cake.) The ice cream is shaped to look like the traditional Kugelhopf and is a little taste of ice cream heaven. I don't know exactly what is in this little gem, but I believe there is a little bit of Riesling and raisins. But what I do know is that I'll be filing this away in my "Must-Try-To-Recreate" file when I return home (and to all of my kitchen gadgets)!

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Food Challenges and Adopt-a-Blogger #3

I meant to mention this a while back, but Lori over at Fake Food Free is hosting a "Mango Recipe Challenge," so head on over and check it out! (But don't enter because I want that basket of Brazilian goodies all to myself! ;-) Just kidding...) Lori has a great blog that focuses on healthy eating and her experience with food while living abroad. Go check it out!


The second food challenge is mine (but I don't have a snazzy button like Lori does...maybe I'll have to make one!) As mentioned previously, ChefE at CookAppeal and I are hosting a French/German recipe challenge. While we don't have any special goodies to give away, we'd love for you to join in the fun and try some (hopefully) new recipes from French and German cultures. We'll be doing this for the next few weeks, so feel free to join in one or all Monday Mouthfuls! We'll be posting our results of our Flammekueche attempts this Monday, so email me at mindysmouthful(at)gmail(dot)com or ChefE at elizabeth(at)cookappeal(dot)com with a link to your blog post (or pictures and story if you don't have a blog).

And finally, I've been adopted! That is, through Dine and Dish's Adopt-a-Blogger program. As a newbie food blogger, I've been matched with Kathy over at Panini Happy and Cooking on the Side. I'm so excited because I've already been following both of Kathy's blogs and love them! Go check them out...


Thanks to Kristen over at Dine and Dish for organizing this--she has an incredible 114 bloggers participating in this event!

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Roasted Tomato and Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers

Last week, I roasted a huge batch of tomatoes--normal ones for Pasta alla Puttanesca and cherry tomatoes to try out The Second Lunch's Roasted Tomato and Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers. I often find time-consuming recipes that I'd love to try, but having a two year old under my feet prevents me from spending hours in the kitchen, so I've come up with some time-saving techniques to have my cake and eat it too. (This begs the question...do mothers get to eat their cake too??? I'm not so sure about that one yet!) One of those techniques is setting aside some time (perhaps naptime?) to prep ingredients for meals later in the week.


This week, my meal list had two recipes that called for roasted tomatoes. (What can I say? I'm wishing summer into existence!) So, I roasted them all at once, let them cool, and then put them in tupperware in the fridge until I was ready to use them. Looking back, I should have used that time to pre-cook the rice as well...


All of this was in preparation to make these beautiful stuffed peppers:


I grew up eating stuffed bell peppers, which was one of my favorite dishes my mom made, but I was looking for something a little lighter than what my mom made--basically meatloaf with rice in the pepper--and came across this little gem. It uses brown rice, which I've decided to try to put in my diet whenever possible, and packs quite a flavorful punch! I didn't serve this with the yogurt as suggested, but my husband and I both agreed that it would add a nice richness to the dish. The original recipe called for ground turkey, but our family just isn't into ground poultry, so I went the ground beef route. It could also be made into a vegetarian dish very easily. Either way, it's worth a try!

Roasted Tomato and Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers
adapted ever-so-slightly from The Second Lunch

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 lb. cooked ground beef (seasoned well with cumin, salt, pepper, chile powder)
1 onion
olive oil
2 cups cherry tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
a few tablespoons of freshly torn basil
salt and pepper
4 red bell peppers
A good glug of balsamic vinegar
1 tsp each of dried thyme and oregano
Small handful of fresh parsley
olive oil
plain yogurt (optional)

1. While brown rice is cooking, pop a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes in a pan with some olive oil, garlic cloves, salt, pepper, and freshly torn basil. Cook at about 300 degrees F, until the rice is done, about 40 minutes. (This can be done ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.)

2. If cooking all at once, right after popping the tomatoes in the oven, start the ground turkey, first sauteeing an onion in a little bit of olive oil for about 10 minutes until soft, and then adding the ground beef, and cooking until well browned. Season with salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder to taste.

3. When the rice, tomatoes, and ground beef are done, stir together in a bowl, and add a good glug of balsamic vinegar, and the thyme and oregano.

Assembling the peppers:

4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a deep baking tray or roasting tray with foil, and grease lightly.

5. Cut the peppers lengthwise, leaving the stem in place, but scooping out any seeds and excess white bits. For smaller peppers, feel free to lop off the top instead of cutting lengthwise. Place the peppers in the baking tray, season with a little salt, and pour on a little bit of olive oil.

6. Stuff the peppers with the mixture, place in the pan, and cover with foil, cook for 45 minutes at 400 F, uncover and cook for about 10 more minutes, or until top has lightly browned.

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