Potatato masala Chettinadu style

with a hint of fennel and garlic.

got the recipe from Mrs Revathi Shanmugham

Hungarian beef and potato soup

On one of those cold early spring days, when winter is over, but has not yet moved away, a hearty beef and potato soup is welcome. And for a change of flavors, I made this Hungarian one. The caraway seeds, paprika and marjoram are what makes this one different.

Southern potato - sausage hash

Welcome, New Year 2019!

Just finger foods, but really filling and delicious.

the savory snacks -- beef and potao hand pie and tartelette, crameized onion and gruyere tartelette, creamy mushroom vol-au-vent

the sweet snacks -- raspberry-cream cheese-white chocolate pocket, apricot cinnamon sugar pinwheel

German roast beef - 2 kinds

Fuhrmannsbraten - cARTER'S ROAST

Sauerbraten with potato dumplings and pickled beets

Christmas 2017

Countdown to Christmas 2017

When Christmas arrives, Europe, especially England, calls. I have written about my liking for those quaint  olde English pubs, castles, cottages and of course, food. This year wasn't too crazy, I made just a few.

The rock cake and sticky toffee pudding are favorites of kids over there, I hear. And of Harry Potter too! But I did not make a sticky toffee pudding. Instead, I made a gingerbread cake and the sticky sauce of the toffee cake., because I wanted to make gingerbread. I substituted golden syrup for the molasses in the gingerbread recipe, and for treacle in the sticky sauce one. In any case, it was delicious. When eaten warm, it was heavenly!

As usual, the Kerala style plum cake was made ahead. Christmas cookies are the usual ones, except this time, my decoration is kind of sloppy. Also, forgot the nose on the snowmen!

Linzer cookie

rock cakes

gingerbread

warm gingerbread with sticky sauce

Christmas cookies

Christmas eve 2017


Appetizers

lamb chops

latkes

Soup:

butternut squash soup with spiced cream as garnish

and bread

pain d'epi

Should have diluted that soup a tad bit, but by then, the roast and the accompaniments were calling for my attention, and so, just served it as it is. It was a meal in itself!

For the main course, this X'mas eve, I prepared a typical English roast. Roast beef, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and gravy. Gave an American touch with the creamed spinach.

roast beef dinner

Desserts:

Kerala style plum cake, creme brulee

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the clink of the spoon  against the caramelized sugar on top, and the softness of the pudding inside! yum!


On Christmas day, a pared down Nazrani Christmas. For breakfast, Paalappam and lamb stew. Just our fish in spicy coconut sauce, fried fish, Beef cutlets, and a vegetable. Paalalppam looks a bit tattered! waiting and transferring didnt go well.

paalappam and lamb stew

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paalappam and stew - an earlier better pic

Nazrani beef varattiyathu with leftover roast beef

Asha's beef-potato-cabbage-sausage casserole

beef-potato-cabbage-sausage casserole

When the cold season strikes, these days, I somehow look to warm comfort foods with an Eastern European slant. This casserole is based on the cabbage-sausage-potato recipes that originate from that part of our world. The sausage that I used is one of the uncooked kinds, my favorite, the brat. You may reduce the amount of garlic and red pepper according to your preference, of course. By the way, this is not a healthy version, just plain delicious. :)

Ground beef - 1 lb.
Johnsonville original bratwurst -3

1 Savoy cabbage - shredded
6-8 medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes - sliced thin
Onion, diced small- 1 large
Garlic, crushed - 1 large  bulb
Vegeta seasoning (optional) - 1/2- 1 tsp
garlic powder - a good sprinkling in the meat and the veggies later
dried sage- 1tsp
dried marjoram - 1 tsp
crushed red pepper flakes - 4 tsp
ground black pepper- 1- 2 tsp
white vinegar - 2 tsp
salt
Olive oil, and/or butter - 2 or 3 tbsp

Draw a sharp knife down the middle of the sausage, lengthwise. Peel off the skin so as to remove the meat.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet or other large vessel. Saute half of the onion and garlic till almost brown.
Add the spices - 1 tsp of the black pepper, or more, if you like-  and herbs.Stir for a minute. Add the beef and the sausage meat. Brown the meat for a few minutes, Add the vinegar. Stir. Remove from heat.

Now add a little more olive oil or a little piece of butter to the same skillet or pot, and saute the rest of the onion and garlic till almost brown.  Add 1 tsp of black pepper. Or crushed red pepper if you like. Or both. No set rules. Fry for a minute. Add the potatoes and cabbage. Stir well so that the veggies are coated well with the spicy oil. Add enough salt to taste, Remove from heat. You do not need to cook the veggies.

Butter a large baking pan or Dutch oven. Place a layer of the cabbage-potato mixture in the pan.

beef-potato-cabbage-sausage casserole

Next add  layer of the browned beef-sausage mixture. Repeat layers ending with potato-cabbage mix at the top. Cover pan with aluminum foil.

 Bake at 375° for 40 minutes to an hour, till the top is browned a little.

PS: Browning the meat before baking is optional. Alternately, you can saute all of the onion-garlic at once. Divide into two. Mix one half with the meat, and the other with the veggies. Then do the layering, cover, and bake.

For the meat part, make it with just beef or just sausage, or more sausage, cooked or otherwise.

Serve warm with  rolls, and a salad, for health, and for color. :).

buttery rolls