This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support. Alicia here! I'm finally back. You probably thought I abandoned the blog and my culinary travels, but in reality we got hit with the flu at my house and then my back went out. Such a time to be alive. But we did actually make an Ecuadorian meal every week this month as promised. And I will be sharing all of them with you this week! In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, each month this year my family is choosing a different country from our heritage and making a traditional meal from that country each week. Then I am sharing our recipes and meals on the blog! Last month was Germany and it was so delicious! Check out my previous posts from January. Ecuadorian Encebollado This month we decided to do Ecuador. My husband is from Ecuador and lucky for me Ecuadorian food is really flavorful and delicious. He's from Guayaquil, which is a coastal city, so that means a lot of seafood. Another plus for me because I love seafood! We have shared some non-seafood Ecuadorian recipes previously on the blog (here, and here), and I will have one more non-seafood recipe this month for you! The dish I'm sharing with you this post is Encebollado. It's one of my favorite dishes. It's a soup that is actually commonly eaten for breakfast or lunch (or brunch) in Ecuador. Whenever I suggest it for dinner my husband is says it's weird to eat for dinner. It is a warm soup though, despite being for breakfast. Tuna, yucca, and onion are the main ingredients in this delicious soup. The strong onion flavor is a great contrast to the subtle flavors of the yucca and tuna, and a great compliment to the lime juice added in right before serving. We usually make this from the can. Every time some one comes from Ecuador or we go, this is my favorite thing to bring back. So currently we have 8 cans of the soup in our pantry. But we have also made it from scratch on occasion. At these times my husband will call home and get the recipe from there. But today we decided to link you to Laylita's recipe. The only difference between her recipe and what we do is that we don't use pickled onions. We just add fresh red onions to the soup and let them soften in the broth (they still have a little crunch though). When you eat encebollado make sure you have plenty of lime. I like a lot of lime juice in mine (at least one whole juicy lime) while my husband enjoys it with a smaller amount.
Traditionally eaten with a crusty bread roll, plantain chips, and a nice cold Coke.
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This is my last German dinner post! Just to recap, each month I am choosing a country and then once a week cooking a meal from that country. January has been Germany. See my previous posts on this adventure here, here, and here!
It has been a very delicious and fun experiment so far. And as a bonus I have made a German dessert that I’ll be sharing with you on Thursday! I’m taking over Renny’s Recipes this week, so stay tuned. Today’s dish is rinderrouladen and potato dumplings. Both of today’s recipes are from Germanfoods.org. Rinderrouladen
A rouladen is a roll-up and a rinderrouladen is a beef roll-up. It’s so good you guys and I didn’t even make it right (I think)! I really was trying to make an original recipe for you here but I feel like it still needs perfecting. As such, I will just link you to one of the base recipes I used and tell you my tips for it. Hopefully in the future I can update this with the recipe. (Because I will be making this again.) It was so delicious!
It’s a really thin cut of beef round or chuck. I used bottom round and chuck to try them both. Then rolled up inside is bacon or ham, caramelized onions, and a pickle. Then it's braised in beef stock for about an hour. I couldn't tell the difference between the two different cuts of meat.
Here are my tips:
This could be a great thing to make for a special occasion, like Valentine’s Day at home, a birthday, or anniversary.. The meat can be kind of expensive so it’s not an everyday meal. Potato Dumplings (Thüringer Klöße)
I have never in my life made dumplings, nor watched anyone make them. And though I have had these before and really liked them, mine turned out like weird mashed potatoes with toast stuffed inside. Also mine came out huge and only half the batch came out of the water in tact. I think watching a video of someone making these would have been beneficial for me.
Don’t get me wrong they were still good with the gravy, but I wished I had just made mashed potatoes. I’m calling it user error. I didn’t use the recipe I’m linking too, but I wish I had because it seems more detailed in the instructions. Because I need to practice these more I have no tips for you. But if you try them let me know how they turn out. I found a mix for them on Amazon that I might have to try.
Have you tried any of the German recipes yet? Stay tuned for a German dessert on Thursday!
This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support.
This is the third installment of my (Alicia) culinary adventure through Germany. There will be one more German food post after this and then we will be moving on to Ecuador!
This has been such a fun little adventure and has made my husband and I excited to go to Europe one day and eat the 100% authentic versions of the meals we've had. I'm a little sad the month is ending but excited for our next "trip" to South America! But I still have 2 more German dishes to share with you and this week's dish is Käsespätzle and I got the recipe from Kimberly at The Daring Gourmet again. Käsespätzle
Described as German mac and cheese, don't be fooled into thinking it's the same just with spätzle instead of macaroni. The German egg noodles, spätzle, are layered with Jarlsberg cheese (or another good Swiss cheese), and caramelized onions and then baked. It is so much more delicious than mac & cheese.
The Jarlsburg Swiss pairs so well with the caramelized onion to give you this great depth of flavor. And the noodles themselves are quite delicious, though I'm having a harder time explaining the flavor of them. ![]()
My tips for making käsespätzle:
I didn't make a side dish with our käsespätzle because I felt it didn't need one, I did feel like we did need a large helping of green salad on the side though. You know, for digestion.
Please make this! It's the dish you've been missing your whole life. It's so good and actually very easy to make. There's really no excuse ;)
Have you tried any of the other dishes I've highlighted? What are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!
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Hello our beloved readers! It's Alicia here with another post from my month of German food. If you missed the previous post, basically every month I am picking a different country and making one authentic (as possible) meal a week. This helps me to spice up our meal plan, and have fun cooking again.
Last week I made bratwurst with himmel und erde (heaven and earth). And it was so good! This week I decided on a German classic, Schnitzel! On the side we made a Swabian Potato Salad. I got both of these recipes from The Daring Gourmet. Kimberly is German so I thought I couldn't get more authentic than that! Traditional German Schnitzel![]()
Schnitzel is essentially a very thin, breaded porkchop. It's crispy on the outside and nice and tender on the inside. Usually you have to pound your boneless pork chops until they are about a 1/4 inch think, but my local grocery store sells pork chops that thin already. Perhaps I should have pounded my chops out to be more authentic or traditional. But I also have two very needy children at home so I thought this time saver was ok. I also bought them bone in because it was $3 cheaper per pound for the same thickness and cut of meat but with a bone. I was able to easily cut the bone off and have my boneless chops.
I really stupidly forgot to salt my pork before I breaded it. I'll blame mom brain for that one. But it wasn't a huge problem I just salted the whole thing after it was done frying. But next time I will surely salt my meat before putting the toppings on. These cook up nice and fast so they kind of perfect for those days when you don't have a lot of time. And they were so good! I can only imagine how good they would be if I didn't forget to salt them. I mean look at that beautiful golden color. Just lovely. We squeezed some lemon juice on ours and it was just perfect. Swabian Potato Salad![]()
Swabia is a region in the southwest of Germany, and that is wherethis recipe comes from.
When I started this culinary adventure, I asked my friends and family what their favorite German dishes are. One answer I got was German Potato Salad. I am not sure if this is the same salad they were talking about, But if it wasn't, it should be. This is honestly one of the best potato salads I've ever tasted. Ok, it's the best. Seriously, the flavors were just so amazing! And confession, I didn't read this recipe until 20 minutes until before we were going to eat it. I had forgotten about a side dish until I started making the schnitzel. I had to call my husband and ask him to bring me key ingredients, like the potatoes. So, I didn't do my due diligence on this recipe either, and it was still one of the best things ever. I took some shortcuts by slicing up the potato before I boiled it, and obviously I didn't let it sit for the hours it needed. But when I took the leftovers out of the fridge the next day to have for lunch. WHOO! It was so good! So I'm excited for the next time we make this and I do it correctly. This salad deserves it. So be warned that this is not something you just whip together (though it will still be good), the potatoes do need to marinate for an hour or so. It's worth it though, believe me. The leftovers are divine.
Have I convinced you to go to The Daring Gourmet and try these recipes out? Please do. They are so good! And if you do please come tell us what you thought! Or have you decided to try this experiment in your own menu plans? How is it going for you?
Next week I am making Käsepätzle, so be sure to come back and check it out!
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
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Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
June 2024
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