Seasonal treat – Elderflower fritters

May 26, 2018 by nadel&gabel

Suddenly it was all white. Clouds of small white petals that look like snowflakes. And a sweet flowery scent was in the air. This scent that is so iconic for late spring/early summer and that we now have in our own garden! I’m very sensitive to the perception of odors. More than f.ex. my ear, my nose registers stimuli and connects them with certain images and memories.The smell of elderflower is closely linked with my childhood, a herald of summer […]

Categories: cake, cookie & dessert, diets, German/Swabian, In the kitchen, seasons, snacks & small dishes, summer, vegetarian • Tags: elderflower, fritters, german, seasonal, summer

Into the Krauts – Golden and red Sauerkraut

November 19, 2017 by nadel&gabel

5 1/2 years of food blogging and quite some more of cooking … it took such a long time for me to attempt one of the most iconic German dishes, Sauerkraut. The ‘Krauts‘ – the view from outside doesn’t leave any doubts. Although Germans weren’t the first that developed the idea of lacto-fermented cabbage. I, for my share, have made already a few experiences with wild fermentation – homemade yoghurt, Kimchi ,water kefir -, learned about the health benefits, especially for digestion and […]

Categories: around the world, autumn, dairy-free, diets, German/Swabian, gluten-free, In the kitchen, pantry, salad, seasons, spread, sauce & spice, vegan, vegetable, vegetarian, winter • Tags: bacteria, beetroot, cabbage, carrot, cumin, fermentation, fermented, flavour, german, ginger, healthy, Kraut, lactic acid, pantry, probiotic, recipe, Sauerkraut, turmeric, vitamin, winter

Culinary heritage – Vegetarian Soljanka

September 23, 2017 by nadel&gabel

Soljanka – a hearty dish that was omnipresent on our trip through Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia. It probably is the best known Russian soup besides Borschtsch. It’s popular all around Eastern Europe and exists in uncountable variations. In Germany the popularity basically is limited to the eastern part of the country. 40 years of separation into two different states left its traces – by far not only, but as well in terms of culinary traditions. Due to ‘socialist brotherhood’ a […]

Categories: around the world, autumn, diets, German/Swabian, gluten-free, In the kitchen, seasons, soup & stew, vegetable, vegetarian, winter • Tags: cooking, cuisine, DDR, Eastern Europe, easy, Germany, gherkin, hearty, paprika, recipe, russian, smoked, soljanka, sour, stew, tart, tofu, weeknight

Homemade pasta mania

March 5, 2017 by nadel&gabel

Last weekend I spend with my best friend Anna and her sweet little daughter at my parents home. Besides of course sharing time with my parents and revelling in memories we had a clear mission: Letting my mother’s new pasta maker run hot! For two days we tested all of her matrices that form different shapes of pasta: Campanelle, Trulli, Spaghetti, Tagliatelle, Fusilli, Mafaldine, … We made all of them and a whole lot! We experienced with wheat and spelt semolina, made pasta […]

Categories: German/Swabian, In the kitchen, pasta • Tags: campanelle, culture, egg, food, fusilli, häussler, Heimat, home, homemade, lentil flour, machine, mafaldine, making, memory, noodle, pasta, semolina, south germany, swabian, tagliatelle, trulli

The flavour of Christmas – Yeasted waffles Panettone style

December 22, 2016 by nadel&gabel

Before this blog goes into a little Christmas break and I fully immerse into real life with family, presents, a lot of game dishes, cookies, sweet liqueur,… I have a last recipe for this year left for you – obviously Christmas inspired. It’s warm crisp waffles and (kind of) Panettone or Christstollen, all in one! Hooray for Christmas! I boroughed the waffle base from Molly‘s challah waffles recipe, itself an adaption on the classic Belgian Gaufre de Liège. They’re pillowy soft, buttery […]

Categories: around the world, bread, cake, cookie & dessert, dairy-free, diets, German/Swabian, In the kitchen, seasons, snacks & small dishes, vegetarian, winter • Tags: bake, candied, challah, christmas, Christstollen, festive, lemon, liege, orange, Orangeat, panettone, pearl sugar, peel, recipe, sweet, waffle, winter, yeast

Soulwarming – Pear fritters with chocolate sauce à la Hélène

October 22, 2016 by nadel&gabel

On those autumn days when the colour of the sky only knows the monochromatic shades of grey (no reference) that are slowly creeping into your mood, the best thing you can do is cuddling into your wool blanket with a hot cup of tea… … and enjoy some food, that caresses your soul, brings coziness deep inside, brings warmth to your heart. It helps when chocolate is involved 😉 In this case I paired chocolate with one of my sweet […]

Categories: autumn, cake, cookie & dessert, diets, German/Swabian, grains & legumes, In the kitchen, seasons, snacks & small dishes, vegetarian • Tags: autumn, bake, belle Hélène, Birne Helene, chocolate, dessert, easy, fritters, pear, recipe, soulfood, sweet, warm

Notes from within the snail shell – Pfitzauf

January 31, 2016 by nadel&gabel

Retreating into the shell like a snail – sometimes this sounds so promising (despite the fact that I am afraid of snails). When the outside world is chaotic, complicated, discouraging, there’s my snail reflex: roll in, withdraw, stay within the shell that shields me. How long could one possibly hide under the bed sheet? Probably quite a while as long as the ingredients for such a simple dish like “Pfitzauf” – the traditional Swabian version of popovers – are in the house. As […]

Categories: breakfast, cake, cookie & dessert, German/Swabian, In the kitchen, Uncategorized, vegetarian • Tags: baking, breakfast, cinnamon, easy, eggs, oven, pancake, Pfitzauf, popovers, recipe, sugar, swabian, sweet

Comforting and nourishing – German potato soup

January 10, 2016 by nadel&gabel

  Hello again! I hope everyone had a good start into 2016! Actually I’ve ment to report back here sooner, but the new year started with some left over work from the old one … 😦 Anyway, I don’t want to start the new complaining. I had great days with my family and friends, yummy food and I enjoyed to be mostly cooked for. We had time to think about the new year, plans, wishes, hopes, while the weather outside … […]

Categories: autumn, German/Swabian, In the kitchen, soup & stew, vegetable, vegetarian, winter • Tags: celeriac, comfort, easy, food, german, healthy, potato, recipe, roots, sausage, simple, soup, stew, vegetable, warming, winter

Ornamental christmas tradition – Springerle

December 6, 2015 by nadel&gabel

With christmas time – besides other things – I associate the following situation: I’m coming back to my parent’s home from the cold snowy outside, putting on my knitted socks, leaning my back to the tiled stove and warming my stiff cold fingers with a cup of hot tea. In between taking sips of the hot tea, I am dipping my Springerle cookie into it, let it soak and take a bite. Finally the fingers have warmed, the stomach as well, […]

Categories: cake, cookie & dessert, dairy-free, German/Swabian, In the kitchen, Uncategorized, vegetarian, winter • Tags: anise, aniseed, christmas, cookie, cutter, easy, engraved, floral, geometric, model, modern, mould, ornamental, pattern, picture, recipe, rolling pin, springerle, stamp, sugar, tea, winter