fondue

Tasty Tuesday–Oktoberfest in July

It’s been quite a few years since we last had a German feast for the Fourth of July, so that’s exactly what we did last week. The menu was somewhat different…this time around, we made all of our Oktoberfest favorites, starting with pretzels:

And pretzels call for fondue for lunch, which I served with pickles and brats as well:

The main course was schnitzel:

I served it with family favorites such as spaetzle, red cabbage, pickled beets, and sauerkraut:

It’s one of my favorite dinners, no matter what time of year it is!

The real star of the feast in my opinion, though, was the dessert. I decided to deconstruct the components of my Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte recipe, and serve Black Forest sundaes. They were so delicious, and I’m pretty proud of my culinary creativity!

It’s fun to plan an unexpected meal for a holiday every now and again!

Oktoberfest (Finally!)

It’s a little later in the month than I would have preferred, but today we finally had our annual Markel Family Oktoberfest! It was a beautiful day, and I thought it was very fitting that we sung a hymn in church this morning that I remember my dad singing in German while I played the piano when I was a child.

I was excited to have a dirndl and lots of edelweiss accessories to wear this year:

When we got home from church, we had our traditional Oktoberfest lunch of fondue with brats, German pickles, and homemade pretzels:

I made most our dinner of schnitzel, spaetzle, rotkohl, and sauerkraut from scratch (the sauerkraut was the only store-bought item).

For dessert I made our favorite Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte:

Oktoberfest is a lot of work…like an actual holiday’s amount of work. But it is a holiday for us, and I love having a way share my heritage with my family!

Tasty Tuesday–Cheddar and Beer Fondue

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Last week I shared my homemade pretzel recipe, so I figured it would only be fitting to share the fondue we like to dip them in this week. Other things we like to dip, besides the pretzels, include baby gherkins, cooked brat pieces, and rye bread.

  • 10 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
  • 6-8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese
  • 1 rounded tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup German lager beer
  • 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
  • A few drops Tabasco
  • 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Combine cheeses in a bowl and toss with flour. Add beer to a small pot and bring up to a bubble over medium heat. Reduce the heat to simmer and add cheese in handfuls. Stir constantly, melting the cheese in batches. Stir in a figure-eight pattern with wooden spoon. When the cheese has been incorporated fully, stir in the mustard, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Transfer fondue to warm fondue pot.

 

Tasty Tuesday–Oktoberfest 2013

Over the weekend, we had our annual Oktoberfest celebration. It’s nice to have one holiday with a somewhat fluid date, so that I can fit it into our schedule, instead of the other way around!

We made soft pretzels, and a cheddar-beer fondue to dip them in:

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For dinner, there was Jaeger schnitzel with noodles and sauerkraut:

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And, the real star of the day, Black Forest cherry torte for dessert!

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Wunderbar!