Duvel

Light dinner at some neighborhood Döner place: Pide with minced meat, roasted pepper paste, parsley and chili. Side salad, beer and Ayran.

Visiting the Augustiner Bierkeller today. I am a huge fan of their Edelstoff, fresh from the wooden barrels, but I also like the quieter, less touristy atmosphere. Of course they sell all the beerhall standards … But: it’s still Spargel season, so some Bavarian asparagus (good, but nothing compared to the Palatinate produce). With a Münchner Schnitzel (pork, with horseradish under the breading), potatoes and Hollandaise. Can’t go wrong with that.

Typical condiments for grilled meat (not restricted to horse, but also applied to it) is mustard and horseradish (pure or with cream). Ketchup is available if you insist. I took just a bit of horseradish. And of course they butter the roll. English menus are available in many restaurants and the big beer halls. And this being the Hofbräuhaus - THE prime destination for Munich visitors - the share of English menus on the tables is 50% …

Walking back from the Augustinerbräu breakfast I stopped at the Viktualienmarkt for a Schmalznudel. It’s a yeast dough, deep fried in lard and topped with sugar … To balance it out I opted for some lean meat and got a grilled horse sirloin sandwich. Super juicy and meaty … And a dessert at a local beer hall … Strawberries complement the seasonal Maibock beer perfectly … Of course, the surroundings (and the music) enhance the experience … And as a @rotuts special 😉

Can’t beat the perks of (the end of) a business trip to Munich … Fresh Weisswurst with Brezn … Followed by Leberknödelsuppe … All enjoyed with Augustiner Edelstoff from a wooden barrel 🥳

Yes, you can buy the flowers or forage them easily. I am not sure about the berries, but would assume so.

Yeap, my mom makes them. Raspberry, lemon & ginger, “across the garden” (red fruits) and elderberry. Plus storebought Nutella, Biscoff cream and local honey …

Easter Sunday started off with a nice breakfast (before the Easter egg hunt) … Little one had prepared “rabbit” marshmallows, that were enthusiastically received. None survived the breakfast (much to everyones surprise) … Well before breakfast the traditional leg of lamb was prepped and went into a low oven for the better part of the day … While it was doing its thing unsupervised, we played games and made another round in the fields, only briefly interrupted by “the other traditional lamb” 😉 At dinner, the leftover asparagus plus the cooking fond was made into a nice Spargelsuppe. So nice, actually, that noone took a picture 🤭 The lamb (that after ~8h in the oven was meltingly tender) was served with string beans (and hazelnut/panko/browned butter), roasted carrots with honey & thyme, mashed celeriac with potatoes and pommes duchesse. Very, very good. And plenty of leftovers, too 🤗 As dessert we had a classic red wine foam with berries. And finally a apricot brandy to call it a day. Good times indeed 🥳

On Saturday we took care of some things at home, before making a little hike through the local forest. The weather was beautiful and @weinoo will be delighted to hear that the whole forest in wild ramps and woodruff. You could smell them actually from the paved trail. You are allowed to take one handful, we we did … On the way back we stopped at a local farm, that sells their produce in a small shed next to the road. Their sausages are great, all homemade from their pigs. You pay by an honor system: take what you want (price indications are given) and place your money in a box. Good stuff ! The night before Easter Sunday my hometown (just as many others in the area) light a bonfire to celebrate, which my be linked now thematically to Easter but is more of a pagan ritual, definitely predating anything Christian in our area. I prepared some antipasti for dinner: grilled veggies, pickled champignons, dips, some olives, buffalo burrata with tomatoes and a rosemary focaccia, that I started two days ago upon arrival. Upon dawn we climbed up the local hill and watched the bonfire. Of course there was some curry sausage to be had, together with beer and good company 🤗

Even later than @Shelby last year I realized there is no 2025 version of the annual Easter thread. Let’s correct that 😉 Out Easter 2025 started on Maundy Thursday when we drove up to Northern Germany to visit my parents. My sister and BIL were joining as well. Before arriving at home we visited the most kissed girl in the world and bought some goodies for Easter in town … My mom is not that agile anymore, so this year I was in charge of the whole food during the weekend. Which is a big thing, since she always liked to pamper us - and surely enough when we arrived an still warm mandarine cheesecake was waiting for us 🤗. I took over from there. Dinner was a “light” affair (in view of the things to come): I recently presented my mom with an air fryer (easy to use, easy to clean), so she asked how to make chicken wings - and dinner was set: chicken wings (both “spicy” with blue cheese dip and “kindergarten”), steak with herb butter, loaded nachos with dips and a green salad with mustard dressing for good measure. No complaints (and my father will get wings now once per week ☺️) … Good Friday started with a regular breakfast before we all went to a nearby spa town for some hot springs and relaxation. For dinner I brought 4 kg of fresh Palatinate Spargel with me from our area. As you are aware, asparagus is king in Germany during spring season, and this one was as good as it gets. I ate several sticks raw while preparing. Served with young potatoes anda regular Hollandaise (for my parents and me) and a lemony one for the younger ones. Typically one would serve raw & cooked ham with asparagus, but to keep in the Good Friday tradition I purchased Scottish smoked salmon, brown shrimp, smoked eel and boiled octopus legs instead. It was a match made in heaven. Everything was finished 🥳

Morcilla (or any of its ethnic cousins) is a boiled sausage, so you can't really count on any binding from the cooking process of the mini Scotch egg per se ... There are two ways to achieve a structurally intact mSe: 1) you cut the boiled Morcilla part with raw meat. Its proteins will coagulate, which will keep the the meat shell in one piece. Addititional binder might work as well. The result will be a more sturdy casing if cooked through, resulting in a rustic dish. 2) you add something to more easily homogenize / soften your Morcilla part, making it easier to fold homogenously and thus wrap it better around the quail egg, creating a smooth surface. Then add a "proper" flour/egg/panko coating which solidifies during the frying process, holding the softer Morcilla part in place (same principle as in Bechamel-based croquette). The result will be more soft, probably feel more "elegant".

Maybe this will help …

Beautiful, @weinoo 👍 And 100% legit 🥳

I have never tried to freeze it, but “leftovers”* (like an extra pizza) do reheated well in an medium hot oven or airfryer. —- * made on purpose: I also have quite some slices for the next days as snacks.

If I come back from my morning walk with that bounty, my neighbors would egg my house …