German Fest! Day of recipes

 

Crockpot Red Cabbage  This needs to be started the morning of the party because it takes 6 hours on low to cook.  This photo is the before.  You will see the after photo a bit further down.  

I had to double the vinegar, sugar, seasonings etc because the cabbage didn't have enough tang when I taste tested partway through the cooking process.  

Ingredients for Crockpot Red Cabbage:

• 1/2 head red cabbage (chopped)
• 1 red onion (chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (sliced)
• 6 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 4 tablespoons water

Hot German potato salad.  I have made this recipe before, but I ended up doubling it for the party!  This comes together quickly and needs to be done right before eating.  There are two steps that can be done ahead of time and that is the cooking of the bacon.  I cooked the bacon earlier in the day and left the bacon grease in the pan to be re-heated closer to dinner.  Also, boil the potatoes.  I let them sit in a bowl, whole, until they were cool enough to slice.  Then they sat in the bowl until I was ready to make the hot salad.  

Ingredients for the single recipe

* 4 potatoes
* 4 slices bacon
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons white sugar
* 1/3 cup water
* 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
* 1/2 cup chopped green onions
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes; cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool and chop.
2. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. Reserve bacon fat.
3. Add the flour, sugar, water and vinegar to skillet and cook in reserved bacon fat over medium heat until dressing is thick.
4. Add bacon, potatoes and green onions to skillet and stir until coated. Cook until heated and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Pre dinner appetizers included frozen potato cakes served with applesauce and sour cream.

 

Boars Head pickles which were fantastic!

Boars Head knockwurst and store brand bratwurst.  The brats were cooked in beer for about 10 minutes and the knockwurst came precooked, but took a beer bath for about 3 minutes.  After boiling the sausages went into the airfryer for some crispness and color.  Served with several mustards, but stone ground seemed the favorite.  The sausages are pictured on the cutting board.  

Pork schnitzel, plain and cordon bleu style.

Ingredients for pork schnitzel:

8-10 boneless, thin cut pork chops.  This was 2 packages of chops

1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoon seasoned salt.  I used 1 teaspoon cajun seasoning which had salt as the first ingrdient and then 1 teaspoon plain salt.

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons milk.  My milk was almond milk

1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons paprika

Swiss cheese and deli ham (if making cordon bleu style)

Peanut Oil for frying

Cover a cutting board with plastic wrap.  Place pork chop on plastic, season both sides of pork with salt and pepper, cover with another piece of plastic wrap, use meat hammer to pound chops even thinner.  

You will need 3 shallow bowls to set up a breading station.

bowl 1 is flour, seasoned salt/salt and pepper mixed well

bowl 2 is egg and milk beaten together

bowl 3 is panko and paprika mixed well together

Dredge each pork chop in each bowl, shaking off the excess.

To fry the chops, make about an inch of peanut oil in a large stock pot, and heat.  Test oil by tossing a pinch of panko in to see if it starts to fry.

Drop chops in 2-3 at a time.  Finished temp should be 145.  This only takes about 4 minutes.

The plain schnitzel should be served with lemon wedges.

The cordon bleu style schnitzel needs to be topped with swiss and ham and popped into an oven heated at 425 for a few minutes.  Serve with mustard.