Kochen, Deutschsprachlich und ein Rezept oder zwei

Cooking, German and a Recipe or Two

Food is a wonderful part of life and features strongly in German culture. From North to South is a great variety in what is considered traditional fare however the flavours tend to be rich and creamy. Fresh salads and vegies are common as are many processed meats; wursts, salamis, sliced meats, smoked meats, etc. Due to the population size and lack of grazing land beef is expensive, pork is most common and das Hänchen - chicken and der Puter - Turkey are readily available.

Interstingly names for things change quite a bit from North to South. For example a butcher is known as der Fleischer (North: the 'meat'-er, fleisch is meat), der Metzger (South) and der Schlächter (the slaughterer). The butcher shop is called die Fleischerei oder der Fleischerladen, die Metzgerei oder die Schläcterei. A master butcher: der Fleischermeister.

Note, nouns are always capitalised in German, even in the middle of a sentence, however the pronoun, der, die or das ("a") is not. The forms are male, female and neuter. The equivalent definite article is ein, einer, and ein. Just for fun these articles are all declined for the cases nominative and dative (sometimes genitive as well!). Unlike the romantic languages (e.g. Italian and French) there are no hard and fast rules to determine the gender of a noun.. so they are all rote learnt, with a few guiding rules that help occasionally.

Anyway, back to the food.. dinner last night was supposed to be a vegetarian lasagne but at the last minute turned into something of a new recipe. Two versions, the first I actually cooked and the second the recipe the way I'd do it next time. Here 'tis, enjoy!

Paul's Leek and Lentil Pasta

Method and the Mix! Serves 3

• Put on a pot of water to cook the pasta
• Fine chop onion and saute in good splash of olive oil
• Chop leek in quarters lengthwise and then oblique slice
• Add about half a cup of hot water to hot pan and steam leek | 1min
• Add 2 tbsp of tomaten mark (tomato paste - and i mean a shovel of a tablespoon)
• Add abt 125ml of cream, more (not less)
• Thin with half a cup of milk
• Add 2 tbsp shovels of canned brown lentils (y'know, 1/2 a cup give or take)
• Keep adding (boiling) water to maintain a nice runny tho' viscose sauce
• Add a shake of chilli powder, more cumin and a boat load of salt
• Turn the heat on the sauce down
• Cook pasta in boiling water as per packet directions
• Serve

Notes:

• Fresh corriander goes well with lentils
>> add half a cup of chopped corriander
>> garnish with a sprig or three of corriander

• Pumpkin (Kürbis) would go well in this dish.

• Wholemeal pasta is better for this recipe

• We didn't have Parmesan because for a people that love cheese it just isn't very popular here (Deutschland). Other stinky cheeses are but hey, I reckon that grated pecorino or parma cheese would be good on top too. Serve with your choice of red or white wine. I'd go the halb trocken rot (half dry red).

Paul's Wholemeal Pasta with Leek and Lentils

Recipe Serves 4+ Hungry Hippos

Prep and cook time about 22 minutes;

with all the ingredients close to hand this dish can be prepared and cooked on the fly.

• 2 cups of pumpkin cubes
• 1 Small Onion
• leek: 2 medium / 3 small / 1 ginormous
• small tin of canned lentils (between 1/2cup and 2 cups; fresh if you plan to be organised!)
• 2 rounded tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 small tub of cream
• 1 cup milk (can swap qty of cream and milk)
• 1/8 tsp chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (good sea salt)
• bunch of corriander rough chopped (abt the same proportions as your favourite lentil burger recipe! Don't be afraid to use a lot.. e.g. 2 cups.. I prefer about 3/4 cup)
• 500gm pkt wholemeal pasta penne

Get Cooking!

Put a pot of water on for the pasta

- Cube pumpkin

- Add to pot and aim to (very) slightly undercook pumpkin

In a non-stick frypan sautè onion in olive oil

Cut leek in quarters lengthwise then fine chop

Add leek to pan and lightly fry for a minute

Add a ladle of boiling water from the pot to steam leek

Add tomato paste and cream, stir

- add milk for initial consistency

Add lentils, herbs and spices

Stir gently - add boiling water to maintain good viscose consistency

Reduce heat to gentle simmer

Add pumpkin when ready (i.e. use a slotted spoon to keep the water boiling)

Cook pasta - serve when al dente

Garnish with a sprig or three of corriander

For the kids or the less adventurous, leave out the corriander completely.

For a cold night add more cumin. Don't rev the chilli too hard on this dish.

Comments Welcome :)