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Semmelknödel

‘Tis the season of roast dinner feasts approaching, so why not liven up your dinner plates this winter with some traditional Austrian bread dumplings?

We were treated to a delicious lunch recently, prepared by our good friend Eva, an excellent cook specialising in Austrian cuisine. Home-made dumplings, or Semmelknödel, were served as an accompaniment to a tender roast duck breast, with roast vegetables, braised red cabbage and greens. You can see my filled plate in the main photo at the top of the post.

I especially enjoyed the dumplings – they have a light, succulent consistency with delicate herb flavouring, and absorb the gravy juices from the meat. I’m pleased to say that Eva has agreed to share this old family recipe. Many thanks, Eva and Happy Christmas!

Servings

Makes 18 dumplings.

Timings

15 mins to prepare the mixture, then 1 hour for it to soak. Then about another 30 mins to shape and boil the dumplings.

You Will Need:

  • 500g of dried white bread, which has to be cut into small 1-1.5cm cubes
  • 4 large onions
  • 2 eggs
  • 500-750ml of milk
  • Flour
  • 120-150g of fresh chopped parsley

Method

  1. Put all the bread cube pieces into a very large bowl.
  2. Chop the onions and fry until slightly browned, then add to the bread cubes.
  3. Add the milk, eggs and parsley, mix well together and let it stand for 1 hour so all the milk gets absorbed by the bread. Then cover with self-raising flour (you shouldn’t see any bread through the flour).
  4. Work the flour into the mixture, it should feel firm and not too soggy. You can adjust with either more milk or flour if needed.
  5. Start forming small dumplings (the mixture should make roughly 18 dumplings). Roll each individual one in flour (this will stop them from sticking to your hands or plate) and boil them in salted water, using a large enough pot to give them space for surfacing, after about 20 minutes of boiling.
  6. You can either eat them straight away or freeze the rest (after having been cooked) for another day! They keep very well in the freezer!

Dumplings are served with any type of roast as an alternative to rice or potatoes. They go particularly well with Gulasch.

Eva has chosen the latest track for adding to the ADK playlist, nominating this happy festive song: José Feliciano with Feliz Navidad.

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Feta & Black Olive Quinoa Salad

Now it’s summer, I’ve been eating more and more salad bowls for lunch, so reckoned it was about time to feature one here on A Different Kitchen.

This one throws together some of my favourite tastes, including feta, black olive and rocket leaves, in a tahini dressing. The quinoa boosts the protein intake and fills you up without being heavy on the carbs. Good as a lunch bowl, but also suitable to serve as a side alongside a mains.

Servings

Enough here for a couple of servings.

Timings

12 – 15 mins. That’s how long it takes to boil and cool the quinoa, during which time you can be getting ready the rest of the salad and the dressing.

You Will Need:

  • 70g quinoa
  • about 70g feta cheese, cut into cubes
  • about 12 – 15 pitted black olives from a jar, cut in half
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 5 – 6 slices of cucumber, diced
  • 1 scallion, cut into rings
  • a handful of rocket leaves

Check out this link for my tahini dressing.

Method

  1. Place the quinoa in a saucepan with boiling water. Reduce and simmer for 12 – 15 mins.
  2. While the quinoa is cooking, prep the other ingredients and place in a bowl. Make up the tahini dressing.
  3. Drain the quinoa when cooked, and cool in a sieve under cold running water. Shake dry and add to the salad ingredients, stirring in to mix. Coat with the dressing and serve.

Customise It!

I used a packet mix of black, white and red quinoa just because it helps the dish look more interesting, but plain quinoa will work just as well. Feel free to sprinkle a few sesame seeds over the bowl before eating.

Here’s a track that’s been popping up recently on the playlists Spotify auto-generates for me, based on my other listening – clever that, especially when the track turns out to be one I find I like. Here’s Moby with Bodyrock.

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Recipes Sides

Spicy Rhubarb Relish

Over to my wife, Lesley, for a guest post on a tasty, spicy relish made from a batch of the lovely rhubarb that is in season this early in Spring…..

At the community farm I belong to, April, May and even into early June is called the Hungry Gap for good reason. All our winter crops have been harvested, our spring crops are seedlings, and there are precious few fresh fruits and vegetables.

Step up rhubarb. Field rhubarb is plentiful in April and May and I take my share of approx 500g home each week. As ever, a glut like this can be bottled and so I have invested in a book to help me, published by the Dorset-based River Cottage team, headed up by TV chef, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. 

This is one of the recipes, creating a Spicy Rhubarb Relish. It’s easy to do, making 4 jars worth of relish in one regular-sized saucepan. We have enjoyed a dollop on salads, over hot dog sausages and in sandwiches. It’s sweet and spicy, and next time I will experiment with a wider variety of spices in the muslin spice bag.

Servings

Makes 4 x 340g jars.

Timings

Takes about 40 mins to make.

You Will Need

  • 500g granulated sugar
  • 100ml water
  • 1kg rhubarb (untrimmed weight)
  • 100ml cider vinegar
  • 125g raisins

For the spice bag:

  • a piece of muslin about 20cm square
  • a piece of string about 30cm in length
  • 4cm chunk of root ginger bruised with rolling pin
  • 2 cinnamon sticks snapped up
  • 6 or so cloves

Method

  1. Place the spices in the centre of the muslin. Gather the muslin up to create a parcel with the spices inside, and tie it with the string.
  2. Dissolve the sugar in 100ml of water and bring to the boil, with the muslin bag submerged to infuse the spicy mix into the syrup.  
  3. Turn off the heat and leave for 20 mins or so. Take the bag out and discard.
  4. Trim and chunk the rhubarb, add into the syrup with the vinegar and raisins. Bring back to the boil and let the rhubarb soften. Most of the chunks will break down into a soft spoonable relish. 
  5. Pour into pre-sterilised jars. Leave to cool down and store in the fridge. 

The relish is very versatile. You can enjoy it in a number of ways – alongside cheese, ham or cold meats, or as a dollop spooned into a bowl with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, rice or grains, and other salad ingredients.

As a guest author on A Different Kitchen, I get to select the next track for the ADK Playlist. My choice is one of the many great songs we enjoyed hearing recently at the Northern Soul Orchestrated show in London. This is Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons with The Night.

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Mango Salsa

This is a side dish to truly wake up the senses. Juicy mango combines with crisp cucumber, crunchy red onion, fiery chilli, fragrant coriander and tangy lime to make a real treat for your taste buds, that’s visually enticing! It’s also suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

I served it spooned over my Jerk Chicken with Roast Peppers, all wrapped up in a warm tortilla. You can just as easily serve it alongside a spicy mains or as part of a salad.

Thanks to the guys at Sunday Brunch for the inspiration with this one.

Totally tropical!

Servings

A side dish for 4 adult mains.

Timings

10mins to throw together.

You Will Need

  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 1 mango, chopped
  • half a cucumber, chopped
  • 1 red chilli, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 30g fresh coriander, chopped
  • zest and juice of 2 limes

Method

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Place in the fridge until mealtime.

Customise It!

Feel free to chuck in a few nuts, seeds or dried fruit. Pomegranate seeds would look good and, in my experience, have never been known to detract from a dish such as this. Try not to over-complicate it though – part of the attraction is that it is so quick and easy to prepare.

Here’s La Roux, keeping up the fun, tropical theme with the catchy Tropical Chancer. Be mindful that the chorus of this track can lodge in the brain, resulting in in it being hummed and sung on repeat for the rest of the day. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

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Mains Recipes Sides

Spicy Bean Burger and Salsa

Whenever I look at the above photograph, I just want to place the fingers of both hands on the top of the roll, my thumbs underneath, scrunch it all together and take a large bite.

Which is a pretty good clue to what happened next, the moment I’d set my camera phone to one side.

I love the taste of a good veggie burger, and many times will choose one over a meat version. So when a bag of freshly harvested pulse beans arrived from our local farm, I had little doubt what to make them into.

I soaked the beans overnight and then boiled them for around 45 mins, before draining, cooling and mashing. However, you can just as easily use a can of beans that are ready to use.

Mixing the mashed beans with breadcrumbs and an egg gives a good texture that ensures the burgers, once shaped into patties by hand, stay together during the cooking process.

A fun part of the exercise is deciding what spices to add, and you can really go to town on tailoring it to your tastes. I opted for chopped red chilli, ground cumin, freshly chopped coriander and nigella seeds. Hey, you want garlic? Crush it in!

Here’s another shot just before the lid was positioned, showing the toppings including raw red onion, chopped lettuce, sour cream and my home made tomato salsa. Don’t worry if some pieces topple over the side while building it – this is real food. The scrunching down of the brioche roll between your hands will hold everything in, as you go to take that first bite….

Getting hungry, yet?

Servings

This mixture made 6 burgers, each the size of a brioche bun.

Timings

If cooking the beans from raw, they need to soak overnight, then be boiled for around 45 mins before draining and cooling. You can save time on this by opening a can of beans instead. Otherwise, prepping the burger mixture and salsa takes about 20 mins, with another 20 mins to fry/keep warm.

You Will Need

For the bean burgers:

  • 400g cooked beans e.g. kidney beans, butterbeans
  • 100g wholemeal breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg
  • 2 red chillis, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • small bunch of coriander leaves, chopped
  • 1 tbsp nigella seeds

For the tomato salsa:

  • 4 – 5 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
  • half a red onion, finely chopped
  • small bunch of coriander, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • juice of half a lime
  • a splash of white wine vinegar

To serve:

  • 6 brioche buns
  • chopped lettuce
  • soured cream
  • chopped raw red onion

Method

  1. Mash the beans on a plate with a potato masher, and scrape into a bowl. Add in the breadcrumbs, egg and all the spices.
  2. Roll up your sleeves and get your hands in there, squidging the mixture between your fingers till it is all well combined.
  3. Pull out just enough of the mixture to make one burger, and flatten it down between the palms of your hands. Set aside on a tray. Repeat to make 6 burgers in all. Place the tray in the fridge to chill while you make the salsa.
  4. In a separate bowl, combine all the salsa ingredients and give them a stir. Set the bowl in the fridge.
  5. Switch on the oven to 140C. Fry each burger on the hob for 4 – 5 mins on each side, then transfer to a tray and place in the oven. This will keep the burgers warm until serving time, and also round off the cooking process, making them browned and crisped all over.
  6. Serve each burger in a toasted brioche roll, on a bed of chopped lettuce, and topped with a dollop of the salsa. Add raw chopped red onion and sour cream.

Customise It!

The sky really is the limit here. Add slices of avocado to the bed of chopped lettuce if you want. Top it off with your favourite cheese, grated, and slam it back in the warm oven for a few mins to melt, before adding the salsa. Engage imagination!

The next band to feature on the ADK Playlist has been around for over 20 years, and is finally enjoying some well-deserved public attention, following a collaboration with Taylor Swift. Two critically acclaimed albums released in 2023 have also helped their cause. Their sound reminds me of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Arcade Fire, so they are definitely worth a listen if you haven’t heard their stuff. Here’s a good one to start with, included on 2023’s Laugh Track. From Cincinnati, Ohio, this is The National (featuring Bon Iver), with Weird Goodbyes.

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Korean Cauli Roast

Here’s a delicious side dish that is built for sharing as part of a spicy banquet or feast, ideally with some cold drinks. Give everyone a fork each and let them tuck in, choosing a roasted floret or two and twirling it round to become coated in the spicy Korean Sauce.

The recipe for the Korean Sauce can be found in my Korean Pulled Pork Sandwich post. Although I made the Sauce originally to pour over pulled pork, I found it goes equally well with other dishes, as shown here with roasted cauliflower florets. If you’re not making the pulled pork, or if you want the Sauce to be vegetarian or vegan, just add water in place of the pork juices.

Servings

Served alongside other sides and mains, this will feed 4.

Timings

5 mins to steam the cauli, then 20 mins to roast.

You Will Need

  • 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
  • a saucepan of Korean Sauce (vegetarian version)
  • 3 – 4 scallions
  • half a carrot
  • a handful of sesame seeds

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180C.
  2. Put the cauli florets in a steamer basket over a pan of boiling water for 5 mins (I find this helps the cauli become tender and succulent in the roasting process).
  3. Warm the Korean Sauce on the hob or in the microwave.
  4. Remove the cauli from the steamer and lay out on a roasting tray.
  5. Brush all over with the Korean Sauce, and put in the oven for 20 mins.
  6. Remove the roasted cauli and place in a serving bowl. Drizzle over some generous spoonfuls of the Korean Sauce, and garnish with chopped scallions, carrot sticks and sesame seeds.

Customise It!

There will already be chopped chilli in the Korean Sauce, but you can add a bit more as a topping if you want an extra fiery kick. Matchsticks of cucumber also work well as a topping, and give a kind of antidote to the heat!

Here’s an old track I heard in a friend’s car the other day, and which I hadn’t heard in years. It has a really catchy chorus, so you may find yourself humming it, as I have been this week. This is Dr. Feelgood with Don’t You Just Know It.

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Recipes Sides

Tahini Dressing

The garden is now chock-full of sun-warmed tomatoes on the vine and cucumbers that seem to grow bigger by the day – see my photos below.

There’s enough to provide sides to meals for a little while to come, so I’ve been looking out ideas for tasty dressings to vary things up a little.

I’m a big fan of tahini – the spread that is made from ground roasted sesame seeds. In fact, tahini on a slice of wholemeal toast is one of my favourite snacks. Its taste is reminiscent of peanut butter, but without the sugar. It is said to have a number of health benefits in a diet, being a good source of fibre, protein and healthy fats.

I’ve used it in a stir fry sauce before, and wanted to incorporate it in a salad dressing. Following some research, I settled on a recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. A tablespoon of tahini is added to core ingredients of olive oil, runny honey and cider vinegar. Shake it up in a jar till it’s rich and creamy, then drizzle over your salad, with a sprinkling of sesame seeds to top it off.

Servings

This should be enough to go with a couple of week night meals for 2 – keep the screw top jar in the fridge and use as you wish.

Timings

10 mins to prepare.

You Will Need

  • a clean screw top jar or container
  • 1 tbsp tahini
  • 4 tsp cider (or white wine) vinegar
  • 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp runny honey
  • a couple of twists of sea salt and ground black pepper
  • half a clove of garlic, crushed (optional)
  • sesame seeds to sprinkle

Method

  1. Put all the ingredients (other than the sesame seeds) in the screw top jar and shake well to combine. Pour over your choice of salad and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.
  2. Er, that’s it.

Customise it!

Add more black pepper if you wish. A squidge of lemon juice might be nice. If the consistency is too thick, just add a few more drops of olive oil. Why stop at salad – drizzle it on a baked potato, or use as a dip for fries.

Here’s a song I heard on the radio this week, which I hadn’t heard in a long time. The band who recorded it are now in their 45th year, no less, with a hectic tour schedule this summer. I very much liked UB40 in their early years, and went to see them live in their home town of Birmingham. I remember the thudding bass and drums of their reggae beat, and that they did extended dub versions of some of their tracks. I do feel they lost their edge a little when they started doing cover versions of older songs, though it clearly brought them commercial success.

This is one track from those early years – One in Ten.

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Scallion, Celeriac and Cucumber Slaw

Slaws are very useful dishes this time of year. They’re quick to throw together, and can be made well in advance of mealtime. They can be left to rest in the fridge, their flavours infusing while you take it easy enjoying the sun with an aperitif. Using fresh ingredients means minimal processing and little, if any, cooking.

I like experimenting with different combinations of raw ingredients. This is one I made recently, that delivers a good tasty crunch with sticks of celeriac, chopped scallions (or spring onions, from the garden) and roasted wholemeal croutons. The mayo and white wine vinegar dressing is spiced up with a little Dijon mustard and fresh dill. This is complemented with fine silky slivers of cucumber that bring some cool respite on the tongue.

Fancy giving it a go?

Servings

Served as a side salad alongside a main (such as a quiche) and other side salads, this will be enough for 4 adults.

Timings

10 – 15 mins to prepare.

You Will Need

  • half a cucumber
  • 1tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 3 scallions
  • 200g celeriac
  • 100g slices of wholemeal bread
  • a handful of fresh dill
  • some olive or rapeseed oil
  • 2 good tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • seasalt and ground black pepper

Method

  1. Cut the cucumber lengthwise into cylinder shapes about 10 – 12 cm long, and then cut each into quarters lengthwise. Scrape out and discard the soft, squishy middle. Then, using a veg peeler, shave each piece of cucumber into long, thin ribbons. Place into a serving bowl.
  2. Next, cut the rough, outer edges from the celeriac and discard. Cut the remaining flesh into matchstick size pieces about 3cm long. Add to the cucumber.
  3. Cut the scallions into pieces the same length as the celeriac sticks, and add to the bowl.
  4. Add the wine vinegar and chopped dill, giving it all a good stir to coat the salad ingredients.
  5. Mix the mayo and mustard and add to the bowl. Add a few twists of salt and pepper. Give it another good stir to combine, and then place in the fridge till mealtime.
  6. Finally, cut the slices of bread into cubes, drizzle with oil and roast, spread out on a tray for 5 mins at 180C. Allow to cool.
  7. Just before serving, take the salad from the fridge and arrange the wholemeal croutons on top. Then serve.

Customise it!

Try to keep to the 3 core ingredients but, beyond this, feel free to experiment e.g. cider vinegar if you prefer, or different fresh herbs to replace the dill. Melt parmesan over the croutons while roasting, or add garlic to the dressing. The possibilities are nearly endless!

Next track for the ADK Playlist is a very catchy tune that’s been playing this week in the ADK Kitchen. It will get your toes tapping as you chop those scallions and celeriac sticks. This is The Wiseguys with Ooh La La.

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Sides

Royal Blood Orange Salad

Now here’s a vibrantly coloured salad to liven up your patio table and get your summer lunch guests talking.

Slices of fresh orange are combined with wafer thin slivers of raw beetroot, in a sweet and sour dressing, topped with roasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds infused with the taste of fennel.

The inspiration came from a chef I admire a lot, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. That deep shade of purpley-red that the fruit takes on from the beetroot juices (see my photo above) reminded me of blood oranges. As the music of Brighton duo, Royal Blood, was playing a lot in the ADK Kitchen when I was making this, I decided to call it my Royal Blood Orange Salad.

Still with me? Here’s how it’s made.

Servings

This is a side salad, rather than a main. Along with other salads as part of a summer lunch table, it will serve 4 people.

Timings

10 mins to chop and prepare, before leaving to marinate for 2 hours before serving. 15 mins to make the roasted seed topping, which is added just before serving.

You Will Need

  • 2 small beetroot, raw
  • 2 medium sized fresh oranges
  • 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp soft brown sugar
  • seasalt and freshly ground black pepper

For the roasted seed topping:

  • 2 tbsp fennel seeds
  • half tsp seasalt
  • 1 and a half tsp caster sugar
  • 40g pumpkin seeds
  • 40g sunflower seeds
  • 1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil

Method

  1. Peel the outer skin from the beetroot. Using a vegetable peeler, cut the beetroot into wafer thin slivers.
  2. Trim the top and bottom off each orange. Then, standing each orange on a chopping board, trim off the skin and pith, leaving a fleshy orange ball. Cut horizontally into slices about 1cm thick.
  3. Put the beetroot and orange in a bowl and add the white wine vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Toss to combine, and place in the fridge to marinate for a couple of hours.
  4. Meanwhile, prepare the seed topping. Begin by pre-heating the oven to 180C.
  5. Using a pestle and mortar, grind the fennel seeds, salt and sugar to a fine powder. Then place the powder in a bowl with the pumpkin and sunflower seeds, oil and 1 tbsp water, and stir to combine.
  6. Line an oven tray with baking paper, and spread the seed mix out upon it. Place in the oven for about 8 mins.
  7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
  8. Remove the marinated orange and beetroot from the fridge, giving it a gentle stir. Sprinkle the cooled seed mix over and serve.

Customise It!

Mmm, an interesting one! There’s quite a delicate mix of flavours and colours in here, so I’m wary of messing too much with it. There is something faintly oriental about the sweet and sour dressing, so the next time I make this I think I will try Chinese 5 spice in place of the fennel seeds and see how that goes.

The roasted seed mix I really liked, so much so that I kept some for snacking on (see my photo below). It was also great as a topping sprinkled over muesli at breakfast time.

I was experimenting with this salad in the days before seeing Muse at Milton Keynes Bowl (see Hysteria for more). Royal Blood were supporting Muse at the concert, and I was playing their music in the ADK Kitchen in preparation for seeing them live.

They were great to see, and went down very well with the 65,000 crowd. I was particularly interested to see if and how Mike Kerr could reproduce that distinctive sound when playing live. If you haven’t heard them, he manages to draw a very expansive range from one bass guitar, making it sound like he is playing two or more guitars. I noticed he was making a lot of use of foot pedals to achieve distortion. Incredibly, he could produce chords by simply banging the frame of the guitar with his fist, without touching any of the strings.

Royal Blood are popular, well regarded and critically acclaimed. It is very much deserved. Here they are with Boilermaker.

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Irish Potato Bread

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, so what better time to share an old family recipe for potato bread!

For many years, boiled, mashed potatoes have been a staple accompaniment to meals in Northern Ireland. The traditional way of preparing potato bread is by throwing a few extra spuds in the boiling water when you’re cooking. You then have some left over to make into potato bread, following this recipe.

Servings

This will make 8 rounds of potato bread.

Timings

15 mins to boil the potatoes, 5 mins to turn into mash, then 10 mins to cool. Another 15 mins to make the bread.

You Will Need

  • 250g potatoes (weight is after peeling)
  • 30g butter
  • half tsp salt
  • 70g plain flour
  • butter and granulated sugar to serve (optional)

Method

  1. Peel and cut the potatoes into chunky pieces. Pour over boiling water from the kettle, and simmer for 15 mins.
  2. Drain, then add the butter and salt. Mash to a creamy consistency, then set aside to cool in the saucepan.
  3. Sieve in the plain flour, and mix together with your hands, while still in the saucepan, to form a dough.
  4. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and roll out to a thickness of half to 1cm (see photos below).
  5. Use a cookie cutter (mine is 78mm diameter) to cut rounds from the dough. You should get about 4 rounds initially, then another 4 by combining and re-rolling the remaining dough.
  6. Lightly grease a heavy-bottomed frying pan with butter. Warm it on the hob, then put in the rounds, 4 at a time.
  7. Fry lightly on each side for about 5 mins, till dappled and golden brown (see my photos). Remove to a warm plate.

The potato bread can then be served as a savoury, along with bacon, eggs, sausages, or grilled tomatoes as part of a fry.

My favourite, however, is to serve it sweetened. Melt a sliver of butter on it while warm, and sprinkle with a spoonful of granulated sugar – see below. Serve with a pot of strong tea. Delicious!

I actually have a separate St. Patrick’s Day Playlist on Spotify, curated over a number of years, so there are many tracks I could choose from for today’s musical accompaniment. Let’s settle on this one from Dundalk’s famous musical family, The Corrs – So Young.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!